NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) – A Middle Tennessee mom explains how her kids are helping others by taking part in the children’s COVID vaccine trial.
Colleen Melchiore is a mom of three, and her oldest son, Paul, happens to be a heart transplant recipient.
Recruitments for children to be a part of the are happening right now. When Melchiore said she heard that Clinical Research Associates were looking for children to be in their COVID vaccine study, she jumped at the opportunity.
“I thought… Oh my goodness,” Melchiore said. “This is something our family could do to help the world that literally has helped us so much.”
Clinical Research Associates said they’ve had around 300 children, from ages 5 to 12 be enrolled.
“It’s been a lot easier than it usually is. Because a lot of parents want their children to be vaccinated,” Medical Director at Clinical Research Associates Dr. Stephan Sharp said.
Melchiore said she asked her children before enrolling them.
“This would be Will be helpful for other kids and especially kids like Paul, and they were pretty much on board,” Melchiore said.
Children’s COVID vaccine trials have smaller participant numbers than adults but will still follow the same steps.
“Getting a little bit of medical history, doing a little bit of an exam. In this case, we will draw blood to look at baseline antibody levels,” Sharp said. “Then giving them the vaccine, I’m doing follow-up labs.”
Melchiore said Paul has been encouraging his little sisters, even showing them what it’s like to have your blood drawn.
“He’s completely like the character of Miss Vivian…and started like showing them, he got some cotton balls, and he’s like it really doesn’t hurt,” Sharp said. “He’s like this is good. We should get back to normal sooner.”
Sharp said the trial would look at the , which has proven to be effective in older children. He said right there are around 180 vaccines in development.
Sign up for a clinical trial here.
This story originally ran on WSMV here.