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Importance: The recombinant COVID-19 vaccine NVX-CoV2373 has demonstrated efficacy of approximately 90% in adults, however, its safety and efficacy in children is unknown. Objective: To assess the noninferiority of SII-NVX-CoV2373 in children and adolescents compared to adults and to evaluate its safety in comparison with placebo. Design, Setting, and Participants: This phase 2-3 observer-blind randomized clinical trial was conducted in 2 cohorts, children (aged 2 to 11 years) and adolescents (aged 12 to 17 years) between August 2021 and August 2022. Participants were randomized 3:1 to SII-NVX-CoV2373 or placebo and monitored for 179 days. The participants, study team, and laboratory staff were blinded. This was a multicenter study conducted across 10 tertiary care hospitals in India. Exclusion criteria included previous COVID-19 infection or vaccination, immunocompromised condition, and immunosuppressive medications. Interventions: Two doses of 0.5-mL SII-NVX-CoV2373 or placebo were administered intramuscularly on days 1 and 22. Main Outcomes and Measures: Primary outcomes were geometric mean titer ratio of both anti-spike (anti-S) IgG and neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) between both pediatric age groups to that of adults on day 36. Noninferiority was concluded if the lower bound of 95% CI of this ratio was greater than 0.67 for each age group. Both the antibodies were assessed for the index strain and for selected variants at various time points. Solicited adverse events (AEs) were recorded for 7 days after each vaccination, unsolicited AEs were recorded for 35 days, and serious AEs and AEs of special interest were recorded for 179 days. Results: A total of 460 children in each age cohort were randomized to receive vaccine or placebo. The mean (SD) age was 6.7 (2.7) years in the child cohort and 14.3 (1.6) years in the adolescent cohort, 231 participants (50.2%) in the child cohort and 218 in the adolescent cohort (47.4%) were female. Both anti-S IgG and NAb titers were markedly higher in the SII-NVX-CoV2373 group than in the placebo group on both day 36 and day 180. The geometric mean titer ratios compared to those in adults were 1.20 (95% CI, 1.08-1.34) and 1.52 (95% CI, 1.38-1.67) for anti-S IgG in adolescents and children, respectively, while for NAbs, they were 1.33 (95% CI, 1.17-1.50) and 1.93 (95% CI, 1.70-2.18) in adolescents and children, respectively, indicating noninferiority. SII-NVX-CoV2373 also showed immune responses against variants studied. Injection site reactions, fever, headache, malaise, and fatigue were common solicited AEs. There were no AEs of special interest and no causally related serious AEs. Conclusions and Relevance: SII-NVX-CoV2373 was safe and well tolerated in children and adolescents in this study. The vaccine was highly immunogenic and may be used in pediatric vaccination against COVID-19. © 2023 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.

Abstract

angiotensin converting enzyme 2, coronavirus spike glycoprotein, immunoglobulin G antibody, neutralizing antibody, recombinant vaccine, SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, sii nvx cov2373, sodium chloride, unclassified drug, adolescent, adverse drug reaction, allergic contact dermatitis, antibody titer, arthralgia, Article, body mass, child, clinical protocol, cohort analysis, comparative study, controlled study, coronavirus disease 2019, diarrhea, drug safety, drug tolerability, enzyme linked immunosorbent assay, fatigue, female, fever, gastroenteritis, groups by age, headache, human, immune response, India, injection site erythema, injection site induration, injection site pain, injection site reaction, injection site swelling, malaise, male, multicenter study, myalgia, nausea, null result, observational study, phase 2 clinical trial, phase 3 clinical trial, randomized controlled trial, reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, risk assessment, SARS-CoV-2 (lineage BA.1), SARS-CoV-2 Delta, SARS-CoV-2 Omicron (lineage BA.5.2), seroconversion, tertiary care center, vaccination, vaccine immunogenicity, virus infection, vomiting

Significance Statement:

Safety and Immunogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 Recombinant Spike Protein Vaccine in Children and Adolescents in India: A Phase 2-3 Randomized Clinical Trial

Gunale B., Kapse D., Kar S., Bavdekar A., Kohli S., Lalwani S., Meshram S., Raut A., Kulkarni P., Samuel C., Munshi R., Gupta M., Plested J.S., Cloney-Clark S., Zhu M., Pryor M., Hamilton S., Thakar M., Shete A., Dharmadhikari A., Bhamare C., Shaligram U., Poonawalla C.S., Mallory R.M., Glenn G.M., Kulkarni P.S., The COVOVAX-Ped study group

This study provides critical insights into the safety and effectiveness of the SARS-CoV-2 recombinant spike protein vaccine in children and adolescents in India. It plays a vital role in understanding vaccine responses in this demographic, contributing significantly to global COVID-19 vaccination strategies and public health policies.

JAMA Pediatrics

2023

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