“Is it safe that the Moderna vaccine is being tested on children?”

If the vaccine is ever going to be given to children, it has to be tested. Part of the reason for that testing is safety, and the other part is to see whether the vaccine will produce a good immune response. The dosing of the mRNA in the vaccine will likely have to be different from what is being used in adults, and the company will probably test a range of doses, trying to find out what is the smallest dose that produces a good immune response. Smaller doses should lead to fewer side effects. Children enrolled in the trials will be randomized to getting vaccine at a particular dose or to getting a placebo (salt-water shot). So, some of the children in the trial don’t have any possibility of side effects because they won’t actually be receiving the vaccine. I believe that the vaccine will be safe in children, but until the study is completed, we won’t know for sure. The fact that the vaccine has been given to over a hundred million adults is reassuring.

Randall Fisher, M.D.