The initial hallmark of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic was the virus’ predilection for causing disease, hospitalization, and death among older adults and adults with comorbidities. Yet by September 2021, over six months after 3 highly effective and safe SARS-CoV-2 vaccines were first approved for use in adults, children comprised more than a quarter of all reported cases. In addition, pediatric hospital admissions for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) were the highest reported since the onset of the pandemic, largely because of the high case load associated with the highly transmissible delta variant of SARS-CoV-2.1 Although most children continue to fare well after SARS-CoV-2 infection, children with underlying comorbidities carry a greater risk for severe disease. It was unfortunate that children returned to in-person school in summer 2021 with the youngest lacking access to the most powerful tool we have to protect them against SARS-CoV-2: vaccines....
Proposals to Accelerate Novel Vaccine Development for Children
FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE: The authors have indicated they have no financial relationships relevant to this article to disclose.
POTENTIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST: Sallie Permar has received grant funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and collaborates with Merck Vaccines and Moderna on sponsored research programs on cytomegalovirus vaccines. She provides individual consulting services to Moderna, Merck, Dynavax, and Pfizer. Kathryn Edwards has received grant funding from the NIH and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and is a consultant to Bionet and IBM. She is also a member of the Data Safety and Monitoring Board for Sanofi, X-4 Pharma, Seqirus, Moderna, Pfizer, Merck, and Roche. Buddy Creech is a principal investigator for NIH-funded studies of the Moderna coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine (adults and children) and Janssen COVID-19 vaccine and a member of a Data and Safety Monitoring Board for Astellas and has recently served as a consultant to Altimmune and Horizon Pharma (unrelated). He also receives royalties from UpToDate. Emmanuel Walter is a principal investigator for Pfizer-funded studies of COVID-19 vaccine (adults and children) and an NIH-funded study of the Astra Zeneca COVID-19 vaccine (adults), a coinvestigator for a vaccine study funded by Moderna, and a member of an advisory board for Vaxcyte.
Sallie Permar, C. Buddy Creech, Kathryn M. Edwards, Emmanuel B. Walter; Proposals to Accelerate Novel Vaccine Development for Children. Pediatrics January 2022; 149 (1): e2021054593. 10.1542/peds.2021-054593
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