CHARLOTTE, N.C. — As StarMed Healthcare continues to call on parents to sign their kids up for a vaccine trial, a couple from across state lines are stepping up and answering.
For weeks the healthcare provider in Charlotte has been signing children up to test the Moderna vaccine to make sure it's safe and effective on different age groups.
"They get to help other kids be protected," said one parent who didn't want to be identified.
The woman and her husband live in Greenville, South Carolina, and said they're more than willing to make the drive to Charlotte so their kids can be a part of the trial.
"We will never get these vaccines approved if we don't do the proper studies in these age groups," the mother said.
They have a 4-year-old daughter as well as a 14-month-old daughter who was born at the beginning of the pandemic.
"She was born into the pandemic and she's gonna get us out of it," she said.
They'll drive their girls to StarMed in West Charlotte in November to get their first shots. They'll have a 75% chance they'll receive the vaccine versus a placebo, the mother said.
She's a doctor in South Carolina who has done her own research on vaccines.
"I don't think of it as an experiment on my child," she said. "I think it's just a continuation of the studies that have already been done and proven to be safe and effective."
Atrium Epidemiologist Dr. Katie Passaretti agreed.
"I am reassured and what I would say to parents is these trials have already been done in 5 to 11-year-olds with Pfizer, and Pfizer and Moderna are very very similar," Passaretti said.
However, it's still a parent's choice, but a decision one family is making to try to help society.
"We need parents to step up and we need kids to be in the trials in order to make it possible for the broader population to get vaccinated," the mother said.
StarMed still needs children between the ages of 6 months old to 5 years old. To sign your child up, click here.
Contact Hunter Sáenz at hsaenz@wcnc.com and follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.