Who would offer their kids to be tested on?

[spongebob1000]

Just saw this article and I'm curious to find out what your opinion is. I wouldn't volunteer my 6 year old to be tested on.

www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/oxford-astrazeneca-vaccine-to-be-tested-on-children-as-young-as-six-b919672.html

They have to test them on someone. And who else can they ask but the parents with responsibility for the child?

This is not a good enough reason to offer your child up as an experiment.

No. I believe that for my non cev, healthy weight, fit kids the covid vaccine is more of a risk than covid so I wouldnt let them be tested on. If they were more vulnerable or I was more scared of covid I would probably think differently so I'm not judging others that would.

My 16yo would happily do it

That link doesn't work for me though!

My DC aren't old enough to take part but I think, on balance, yes I would. This is not an experimental vaccine, it's a vaccine that has been licensed for use in adults by various regulatory bodies around the world.

I'd need to know all of the information so I could properly assess the risk/benefits but I think it's likely that the risks are small and ultimately we want children to be vaccinated against covid. Someone has to be first!

I volunteered for the adult trials but wasn't selected.

Interestingly, Sarah Gilbert's (adult) triplet DC were in one of the earliest trials for the Oxford vaccine.

My dd has been in a medical trial when she was five. Although I'm glad we did it the inconvenience was significant. Having to take her out of school and me miss work and go in to a hospital for monitoring. Missing things she didn't want to miss etc.

I would. I know the team. I trust the team and their vaccine. I would venture to say most of the scientists on the team with small kids would also be willing.

Yes DS2 has been in multiple clinical trials. It’s how science progresses and these are not first in human trials anyway so we know they are safe. These are testing mainly for efficacy.

@Stressedoutsomuch
'and to be honest, no-one should' (or whatever you said like that. Sorry - don't know how to copy and quote directly).

But if no-one does, we could never have vaccines - or any other - medicines for children.

In reality, and was it the situation in the film The Constant Gardener'? - drug companies can conduct trials in developing countries where the payment or quid pro quo for taking part is more of an incentive than in the affluent west. The ethics of us then happily using the resulting vaccine take a lot of unpicking.

Sorry the link doesn't work for some people maybe this one to the main site and the scroll down to childrens study? covid19vaccinetrial.co.uk/

This is the news on paediatric vaccines from the US:
www.propublica.org/article/fauci-vaccines-kids/amp?__twitter_impression=true

Yes I would, me and DH just discussed and we are going to sign up for DD1 if feasible

Yes, we (me, my husband and my son) would

I was part of the meningitis vaccine trials as a pre-teen/teen. I'm fine, and I didn't get meningitis, which was a bonus.

Greenandcabbagelooking That’s interesting. I said on the other thread I wouldn’t put my children forward for the covid trial but I might well have done for meningitis. A lot of it is about balance of risk and perception of the severity of the disease.

Yes - I work in clinical research so have a good understanding of how it works. This is not an experimental / first in man vaccine.
As a side note - 15 tears ago v few drugs were trialled in children, they just reduced the dose & hoped that would be sufficient!

My daughter was in a vaccine trial from the age of three. If you have a child of school age or under, chances are she tested one of the vaccines your child has had.

It was very safe and well run.

Stressedoutsomuch

No I wouldn’t.

My kids are fully vaccinated but I wouldn’t use them to be tested on. And tbh no one should. “

You’re kind of contradicting yourself there?

If no-one had, your kids wouldn’t be vaccinated. Who do you suppose vaccines for children are tested on if not someone else’s children?

Stressedoutsomuch

This is not a good enough reason to offer your child up as an experiment.”

Have your own children had their childhood vaccines?

If yes, you’re perfectly happy for other people’s children to be “experimented on” for their benefit?

No I wouldn’t because I’d never be able forgive myself or look them in the face if something went wrong like with the swine flu jab.

If other people want to test it on their children it’s up to them

What are they testing as part of the trial? I thought the purpose of the vaccine was to reduce the severity of illness if a person caught it. Since under 18s almost universally don’t suffer it severely then what will the trial show scientists? Are they also looking to see whether it reduces transmission?

@Snookie00

What are they testing as part of the trial? I thought the purpose of the vaccine was to reduce the severity of illness if a person caught it. Since under 18s almost universally don’t suffer it severely then what will the trial show scientists? Are they also looking to see whether it reduces transmission?

That’s a good point. But we also went down this route with swine flu which caused narcolepsy in some children.

I’d want to know the purpose of the trial. As many people have said that it’s already been proved to be safe then what are they hoping to test? They’d need to have a pretty huge trial to see if it reduces severe cases considering there are so few severe cases in otherwise healthy children. They have not been clear on transmission so is that what they’re testing.

Whilst it’s very altruistic that all these people are keen for their kids to take part then surely someone knows the hypothesis that they’re testing before volunteering them.

@Snookie00
It is a small trial because this is testing the immune response in children, the safety aspects have been tested already.

[quote HazeyJaneII]@Snookie00
It is a small trial because this is testing the immune response in children, the safety aspects have been tested already.[/quote]
Thanks @HazeyJaneII. So it’s not to test whether it reduces severity. What is the purpose of testing immune response? So that it is safe to roll out to CEV children who may actually need it’s protection?