Rutgers, the only New Jersey site for the vaccine trial, will enroll additional children ages 6 months to 4 years

Rutgers, a clinical trial site for the global Pfizer-BioNTech research study to evaluate the efficacy of its COVID-19 vaccine in children, is looking for participants for a third clinical trial on children ages 6 months to 4 years.

Children can get sick from COVID-19 and can spread the virus to others even if they are asymptomatic. While most children experience mild or no symptoms, some children can get severely ill and could have long-term effects,” said co-lead investigator Simon Li, an associate professor of pediatrics at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. “Maximizing COVID-19 vaccination in all age groups is important to stop the global progression of the disease. Vaccination will also help us feel safer about our children resuming school and daily activities.” 

The Pediatric Clinical Research Center at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick – the only clinical trial site in New Jersey -- is one of the several clinical trial sites for Pfizer-BioNTech’s pediatric study.

Rutgers also conducted trials for Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, and it currently is a trial site for Pfizer-BioNTech’s research study evaluating the efficacy of its COVID-19 vaccine in children ages 5 to 11.

Children who meet the eligibility requirements for this study will be randomly selected to receive two doses of the potential vaccine or a placebo six months after the second dose. Those who participate will be told whether they received the vaccine or the placebo and will be offered the vaccine at that time if they had not been vaccinated. Researchers will track whether those who were vaccinated have lower rates of infection with moderate to severe symptoms than those who were unvaccinated over two years.

Pediatricians and parents who are interested in their children being considered for the vaccine clinical trial can click here.