An Egypt-born clinical research expert based in Washington DC appeared on “Good Morning Egypt” to discuss permitting the coronavirus vaccine for use on children.

Ashraf el-Fiky said that the current age restrictions for the vaccine are in place because the early clinical trials were carried out on adult volunteers, as requested by the supervisory bodies for the safety of drugs.

Fiky he said that the trials were carried out specifically on those who were at least 18 years of age.

“When the vaccine shows efficiency and safety during its application to this age group, we begin to apply it to younger age groups, and indeed there are vaccines that were approved in December for the age of 18 and over, then they were approved for the age of 16 years, and then they were approved for children from the age of 12 during the course of last week,” Fiky said.

He explained that the 12-18 age groups will receive the same regimen of the vaccine that adults get, that is, two separate jabs.

Fiky explained: “There are clinical trials currently being conducted on children from one year to 11 years old, and results are expected by the end of the summer.”

Children younger than 12 will likely receive a weaker dose of the vaccine, he added.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm