An international study should enroll participants in 2,000 participants in South Africa while another 12,000 participants in Kenya, the Philippines, Chile and Malaysia.
South Africa has started vaccinating children and adolescents as part of three Chinese clinical trials of Sinovac Biotech COVID-19 for people between the ages of six months and 17 years.
An international survey will enroll 2,000 people in South Africa and another 12,000 participants in Kenya, the Philippines, Chile and Malaysia.
The first children in South Africa immersed themselves in blood on Friday at Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University in the capital, Pretoria, to end the test and others will be shot in six locations across the country, Sinovac said in a statement.
“The main objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of CoronaVac versus validated cases of COVID-19 in children and adolescents,” it added.
“The effectiveness will also be measured based on the clinical and major cases of COVID-19.”
According to director Sanet Aspinall, there has been a “very serious and rare childhood disorder, but it is still contagious”.
“They have … infected with the virus and can infect other people,” he added.
Glenda Gray, President of the South African Medical Research Council, said at a ceremony Friday that “delaying the inclusion of children in COVID vaccine tests delays our ability to have COVID-19”.
Vaccine manufacturers in the United States Pfizer and Moderna have also tried to test children’s shots, making several countries target children of different ages.
South Africa suffers from more than 35% of COVID-19 cases in Africa, of which 2.8 million have been convicted, including 84,327 deaths. It’s been a struggle resume operation and the Delta type of coronavirus, recording 6,270 new infections and 175 deaths in the last 24 hours.
More than 7 million people received a complete vaccine with one Johnson & Johnson vaccine or a two-drug Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
South Africa is currently vaccinating all adults over the age of 18 and wants to vaccinate at least 40 million of its 60 million people by the end of the year, but is struggling to achieve its goal of vaccinating at least 300,000 people every day.
Although the government has said it will not force people to get vaccinated, some companies have already said that they have made compulsory ammunition for their employees.
Various places such as restaurants and bars have to decide for themselves whether to serve those who are not vaccinated or not.