NPR: COVID-19 Vaccine for Children May Still Be Many Months Away

Sallie Permar in lab coat

Pediatrician and researcher Sallie Permar ’97

In an interview with NPR’s All Things Considered, pediatrician and researcher Sallie Permar ’97 explained why the COVID-19 vaccines coming to market soon will not be available to children, who have been largely excluded from clinical trials.

Permar, a professor of pediatrics, microbiology and immunology at the Duke University School of Medicine, says children’s immune systems differ from adults.

"There are certain vaccines that work better in children than adults. And there are certain vaccines that work less well in children compared to adults," Permar says. "So they do have to be specifically studied in the pediatric population."

Earlier this month, the American Academy of Pediatrics called on vaccine researchers and drug makers to broaden their clinical trials to include children.

Permar has been appointed chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medicine and pediatrician-in-chief at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center and NewYork-Presbyterian Komansky Children’s Hospital, effective Dec. 1.

Learn more from NPR's "A Covid Vaccine for Children May Still Many Months Away"

Additional Coverage

Published

  • November 30, 2020