I Enrolled My Kids Under 12 In A COVID-19 Vaccine Trial. Here’s What Happened.

“Under no circumstance other than a pandemic that completely disrupted their lives would I have even considered enrolling my child in a medical study.”

In the early days of the pandemic, one of the things that gave so many of us hope was that the scientific world was single-handedly focused on COVID-19. We would learn how it spread. We would find treatments. Crucially, we would develop a vaccine.

I soaked up information, learning that scientists have been studying coronaviruses for half a century. Vaccine development to fight coronaviruses, which cause not just COVID but also SARS and MERS, started in 2003 ― nearly 30 years ago. mRNA vaccines were hardly new either, as they had been studied for the flu, Zika, rabies and cytomegalovirus.

The influx of funds and laser-like focus of the world’s scientific community meant that this 50-year-old foundation could be built upon quickly, without skipping any steps. All of this had happened without most people paying attention, so it seemed like the vaccine had been developed overnight.