Alastair Grant / AP
A vial of the Phase 3 Novavax coronavirus vaccine is seen ready for use in the trial at St. George’s University hospital in London Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2020.
Tuesday, May 4, 2021 | 12:23 p.m.
About 60 Las Vegas-area children ages 12-17 will take part in a study of the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine at the Wake Research-Clinical Research Center of Nevada.
The study will commence once the U.S. Food and Drug Administration tentatively approves the vaccine, which could happen this month.
It’s a two-dose vaccine like those produced by Moderna and Pfizer. But unlike those, Novavax does not need to be frozen and can be stored at refrigerator temperatures.
The study will be conducted on 3,000 children across the United States, including 60 in Las Vegas. Children ages 6-11 will be next to participate.
Although children are less susceptible to the virus than adults, achieving herd immunity won’t happen until children receive the vaccine, said Henderson pediatrician Michael Levin, the primary investigator leading the local effort.
“This is another important step to the development of multiple vaccines,” Levin said.
Levin said about a third of the patients he has seen during the pandemic have had a member of their household test positive for the virus. Some of his patients also contradicted the virus, including a 14-year-old who tested positive in January and still hasn’t regained their sense of smell or taste, he said. The loss of those senses is a common symptom of the virus.
About 15% of the roughly 316,715 coronavirus cases in Nevada have involved people under the age of 19. Nine children have died of 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 like the lungs, kidneys and heart.
Levin said he thinks schools will eventually require students to get vaccinated against COVID before attending class.
Many families will wait to see the side effects of the vaccine before having their children inoculated, he said. Some, like with other vaccines, never will, he said.
Two-thirds of the participants in the blind trial will receive the vaccine. The others will receive a placebo.
To participate, children must be healthy and not previously diagnosed with coronavirus. Call 702-893-8968 for details or to register.
