WEBVTT - Moderna Will Begin Testing Its COVID-19 Vaccine on Children

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<v Speaker 1>It's Friday, March nineteen. I'm Oscar Ramirez from the Daily

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<v Speaker 1>Dive podcast in Los Angeles, and this is reopening America.

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<v Speaker 1>Maderna announced this week that they will begin testing their

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<v Speaker 1>COVID vaccine on children aged six months to eleven years.

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<v Speaker 1>This is the next piece of the puzzle to widen

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<v Speaker 1>the mass vaccination campaign beyond adults. If all goes well,

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<v Speaker 1>health officials believed that junior, high and high school students

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<v Speaker 1>could get their shots in the fall, and elementary school

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<v Speaker 1>students early next year. Peter loftis healthcare reporter at the

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<v Speaker 1>Wall Street Journal, joins us for more. Thanks for joining us, Peter,

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<v Speaker 1>thanks for having me. The vaccine rollout continues, obviously targeted

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<v Speaker 1>at adults and and those that are most vulnerable right now,

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<v Speaker 1>but the other part of the puzzle is being looked

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<v Speaker 1>into now. Maderna is testing its COVID nineteen vaccine on

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<v Speaker 1>young children. The trial that they're going through is going

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<v Speaker 1>to involve children ages six months to eleven years, and

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<v Speaker 1>as I mentioned, this is kind of the important other part.

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<v Speaker 1>Thankfully kids are spared the worst effects of COVID nineteen,

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<v Speaker 1>but they still can get it, and they still can

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<v Speaker 1>transmit it. So Peter tell us a little bit about

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<v Speaker 1>what Maderna is doing. The vaccine has been approved for

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<v Speaker 1>use in adults eighteen and older, and same with the

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<v Speaker 1>Johnson and Johnson vaccine. The Fiser vaccine is approved for

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<v Speaker 1>people sixteen and older. So basically the focus of the

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<v Speaker 1>vaccination campaign so far has been on adults because ages

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<v Speaker 1>is an important element and who is vulnerable to severe

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<v Speaker 1>disease and the older you are, the more vulnerable you are,

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<v Speaker 1>and so and so the risk and children of getting

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<v Speaker 1>severe disease is lower relative than to what it is

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<v Speaker 1>of adults, but if there still is some risk, and

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<v Speaker 1>so what the companies have been doing is in steps,

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<v Speaker 1>they've been studying the vaccine in people younger than eighteen,

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<v Speaker 1>and so Fiser and Maderna had already started trials in

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<v Speaker 1>adolescents basically twelve and up, and the results of those

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<v Speaker 1>trials they could be released relatively soon, just seeing whether

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<v Speaker 1>it's safe and effective in them. And now what this

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<v Speaker 1>news this week represents is moving down on the age scale,

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<v Speaker 1>and so Maderna is now testing in kids under twelve

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<v Speaker 1>pretty soon. I think Fiser will also start to study

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<v Speaker 1>I believe in five to eleven year old. But yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>so this will basically complete the testing of the full

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<v Speaker 1>age range, and they want to just see how how

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<v Speaker 1>it performs in kids. Health officials said that if all

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<v Speaker 1>goes according to plan and the studies turn out positive,

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<v Speaker 1>that junior high and regular high school students could have

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<v Speaker 1>access maybe in the fall, and elementary school aged children

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<v Speaker 1>maybe in early so obviously still some time to go

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<v Speaker 1>through there. They are, as you mentioned, testing very young

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<v Speaker 1>kids here, kids as young as six months. That seems

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<v Speaker 1>pretty young. Is there anything that a particular reason why

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<v Speaker 1>they're going that young. Yeah, I think that's grabbing a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of people's attention. It's important to keep in mind

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<v Speaker 1>that there are existing child hood vaccines that are given

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<v Speaker 1>to infants. There was a vaccine trial for a rotavirus

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<v Speaker 1>vaccine about fifteen years ago that I think enrolled about

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<v Speaker 1>seventy thousand babies on whom that vaccine was tested and

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<v Speaker 1>then and it proved to be successful. I think that

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<v Speaker 1>Maderna is just trying to get a sense of how

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<v Speaker 1>it performs in the different age groups. They don't want

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<v Speaker 1>to go any younger than six months for now, at least,

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<v Speaker 1>just because they feel like that's pretty young, and the

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<v Speaker 1>and the and the baby's immune system is less mature

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<v Speaker 1>before that time. So they're going to do it in phases,

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<v Speaker 1>and they're gonna they're going to test different doses in

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<v Speaker 1>kids in the first part of the study to try

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<v Speaker 1>to arrive at what is the appropriate dose, because it

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<v Speaker 1>might be different from what the adult dose level is.

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<v Speaker 1>And then once they arrive at a dose, and they'll

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<v Speaker 1>broaden the study and just get a better assessment of

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<v Speaker 1>how safe and effective it is. The Maderna study, they said,

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<v Speaker 1>is going to be kind of a mind phase two

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<v Speaker 1>and phase three trial. They're looking to enroll about six thousand,

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<v Speaker 1>seven fifty children and all this and then kind of

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<v Speaker 1>go through those two parts that you just mentioned. The dosing,

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<v Speaker 1>which I'm sure isn't to get a lot of attention to,

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<v Speaker 1>especially since the kids are younger, right, their immune systems

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<v Speaker 1>are still developing, so they want to make sure that

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<v Speaker 1>they get that dose it right. They really want to

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<v Speaker 1>strike the right balance between you know, effectiveness on the

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<v Speaker 1>one hand, and any sort of even temporary or transient

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<v Speaker 1>side effects like so we've seen with the adult population

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<v Speaker 1>some of these vaccines, particularly in the two dose vaccines.

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<v Speaker 1>After the second dose can really lay a person low

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<v Speaker 1>for like a day or two and give them symptoms

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<v Speaker 1>like food like symptoms or just headache and fatigue. And

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<v Speaker 1>so you know, it's possible that some of those symptoms

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<v Speaker 1>also could be seen in kids. That's what they need

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<v Speaker 1>to test it for. But I think there's also a

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<v Speaker 1>recognition that that becomes maybe a more more magnified issue

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<v Speaker 1>as parents think about do I want to expose my

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<v Speaker 1>kid to have those side effects, even if it's temporary,

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<v Speaker 1>given the relative risk of COVID nineteen disease to the kids.

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<v Speaker 1>I mean, it will be interesting to see what these

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<v Speaker 1>studies show. As you mentioned, Fiser and others have already

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<v Speaker 1>kind of been looking into some of the stuff, and

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<v Speaker 1>we could get some data there pretty soon. So you know,

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<v Speaker 1>hopefully we'll get some good news out of all of

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<v Speaker 1>this and it'll be safe and effective, and then we

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<v Speaker 1>can have our children vaccinated as well. Peter loftis healthcare

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<v Speaker 1>reporter at the Wall Street Journal. Thank you very much

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<v Speaker 1>for joining us. My pleasure. Thanks. I'm Oscar Ramirez and

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<v Speaker 1>this has been reopening America. Don't forget effort Today's big

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