Novavax lures parents with $3,000 incentive to enroll children in COVID-19 vaccine trial

Novavax is offering up to $3,000 to parents who enroll their children, aged 6 months to 11 years, in its “Hummingbird trial,” testing a COVID-19 vaccine.

The trial, which began in 2022 and aims to enroll 3,600 children, has raised ethical concerns over the high compensation, which critics say may coerce participation.

The study promises additional incentives like a stuffed animal for participants, with no requirement for health insurance or immigration status.

Ethical questions surrounding large payments in pediatric trials have drawn scrutiny, paralleling similar controversies in other pharmaceutical studies.

The children will receive three injections and visit the clinic eight times. Parents will participate in three phone calls and keep an e-diary of the vaccine’s effects on their child. Some children will receive two additional injections, for a total of five shots.

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The study website promises, “You will be compensated for your time and travel regardless of your immigration status. Transportation to the study site may also be provided, as available. No health insurance is required to participate.”

Recruitment materials from Be Well Clinical Studies, which is running one of the U.S. trials, state that compensation can be more than $3,000 over two years.

A 2023 video explaining the study also promises incentives for the children, including “a Covid stuffed animal.”

In the video, a pastor from Louisiana who has four children enrolled in the study said incentives like the stuffed animal made the kids even “more excited than the parents” to participate.

The video features Dr. Jibran Atwi who is running a Hummingbird trial in Lafayette, Louisiana. He encouraged people to participate in the study, because COVID-19 severely affected kids, particularly through lockdowns and lost schooling.

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Atwi also said that COVID-19 can be “very disruptive” because if a child has to stay home from school, parents may not be able to go work and the child may have to be isolated from their grandparents.

“Prevention,” he said, “is the best medicine.” He added that there had been an “impressive response” from parents who wanted to participate.

Research shows that young children rarely get sick from COVID-19 and that the illness is typically mild in older kids.

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Atwi received over $2 million in research funding in 2023 from Big Pharma, according to the Open Payments website.

Most of that funding came from Genzyme — a Sanofi subsidiary — and from Sanofi, which shares the co-exclusive licensing agreement with Novavax to commercialize its COVID-19 vaccine.

In 2022, Atwi received over $1 million, largely from AstraZeneca and Genzyme.

Last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted emergency use authorization to Pfizer and Moderna’s 2024-2025 mRNA COVID-19 shots, but Novavax’s 2024-2025 formula has not yet been authorized.

The FDA has authorized previous versions of the Novavax vaccine, but only for children ages 12 and up.