Alastair Grant / AP
A vial of the Novavax phase 3 coronavirus vaccine will be held ready for use in the study at St. George’s University Hospital in London on Wednesday, October 7, 2020.
Tuesday, May 4, 2021 | 12:23 p.m.
Approximately 60 children ages 12-17 from the Las Vegas area will be participating in a study of the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine at the Wake Research-Clinical Research Center in Nevada.
The study will begin once the U.S. Food and Drug Administration preliminarily approves the vaccine, which could happen this month.
It is a two-dose vaccine such as that made by Moderna and Pfizer. In contrast to these, however, Novavax does not need to be frozen and can be stored at refrigerator temperatures.
The study will be conducted on 3,000 children in the United States, including 60 in Las Vegas. Children between the ages of 6 and 11 will take part next.
Although children are less susceptible to the virus than adults, herd immunity will not be achieved until children receive the vaccine, said Henderson pediatrician Michael Levin, who led the local effort.
“This is another important step in the development of multiple vaccines,” said Levin.
Levin said about a third of the patients he saw during the pandemic had a member of their household test that tested positive for the virus. Some of his patients also contradicted the virus, including a 14-year-old who tested positive in January and has still not regained his sense of smell or taste, he said. Loss of these senses is a common symptom of the virus.
Approximately 15% of the approximately 316,715 coronavirus cases in Nevada were among those under the age of 19. Nine children have died from the disease.
One of those patients was an otherwise healthy 12-year-old who was admitted to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center with multisystem inflammatory syndrome, Levin said. The syndrome can affect organs such as the lungs, kidneys, and heart.
Levin said he believes schools will require students to get the COVID vaccine before attending class.
Many families will wait to see the side effects of the vaccine before vaccinating their children, he said. Some, like other vaccines, will never, he said.
Two-thirds of the participants in the blind study will receive the vaccine. The others are given a placebo.
To participate, children must be healthy and not previously diagnosed with coronavirus. Call 702-893-8968 for details or to register.
