10-Year-Old Happy To Be 'Making A Mark' By Participating In COVID Vaccine Trial At Children's Hospital Colorado

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(CBS4) - With children back in school and a highly contagious strain of COVID spreading, questions about if and when children can be vaccinated have followed.

Key Williams wanted to be part of the answer.

"I didn't really think she would be one of the kids to be accepted into the program so when they called me. I was definitely thankful," Williams told CBS4.

Her 10-year-old daughter Kaniya Smith is part of Pfizer's COVID vaccine trial for kids 5 to 11 years old.

(credit: CBS)

She was enrolled at Children's Hospital Colorado in Aurora over the summer, just before heading back into the classroom.

"I really didn't have any concerns except with COVID that's been happening because I've been nervous about friends and family getting it," she said.

Dr. Lalit Bajaj, Pediatric Emergency Physician and Chief Quality and Outcomes Officer at Children's Hospital Colorado, says they are the largest enrolling site in the international trial.

"We did a pretty big campaign to enroll a very diverse population and we had almost 5,000 people sign up -- so a lot of interest -- and we were successful in enrolling 252 kids into that two-shot trial," he said.

Bajaj says the study, and the results which haven't been shared outside of the FDA, couldn't come soon enough.

"We are hospitalizing many more kids than early in the pandemic because this delta variant is so much more contagious and it does cause kids to get sick," he said.

While Williams doesn't know if her daughter received the vaccine or a placebo, the risk of getting sick was part of her decision to sign up.

"Anything I could do on my end to keep her protected and I thought getting this was part of that protection," she said.

Kaniya said while protecting herself was one thing, being part of this study was about more than that.

"I just feel like I'm making a mark in history," she said.