Moderna under fire after offering children money to test Covid vaccine

The UK Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority (PMCPA) ruled that the conduct amounted to "inappropriate financial inducement" and the company had brought "discredit upon the pharmaceutical industry".

Children aged between 12 and 18 years old were invited to enrol in the NextCove trial by a paediatrician from an unnamed NHS trust.

It came after a research ethics committee had already raised concerns about the "large amount of money" that Moderna was offering participants.

Modern did lower the amount to £185, but at least one trial centre continued to offer the original, higher sum.

Under the Medicines for Human Use (Clinical Trials) Regulations, offering incentives or financial rewards to children or their parents is strictly prohibited.

In a statement, the PMCPA ruled: "The panel noted that the financial incentive offered within the unapproved WhatsApp message was never paid but considered that it might have encouraged participants to apply to take part.

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"The panel considered that the unique circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the particular circumstances of this trial, which involved the recruitment of children, meant that Moderna should have been especially cautious.

"On balance, the panel considered that this brought discredit upon and reduced confidence in the pharmaceutical industry."

Moderna is required to provide a written undertaking that the practice will "cease forthwith" and pay for administrative costs.

Some have criticised the punishment as not harsh enough.

"A charge of £14,000 to a company that enjoyed a total revenue of $6.8billion in 2023 is hardly likely to make them think twice before breaking the rules again," Esther McVey MP, formerly of the APPG on Covid-19 vaccine damage told The Telegraph.

"Not only are the charges too small but when they come, they come too late. There is a major backlog in handling these kinds of complaints, with a recent case against Moderna taking the PMCPA 18 months to consider.

"The system is clearly broken and failing to keep patients safe from misleading information and advertising about medicines.

"The public’s trust in healthcare authorities will only continue to be damaged, unless meaningful action is taken."

A spokesperson for Moderna, said: "Moderna is committed to conducting clinical research that upholds the highest standards, and we accept the PMCPA’s ruling.

"The unauthorised communication by a third-party did not reflect our standards for clinical trial recruitment nor was it approved by Moderna, and we took immediate actions to prevent such an incident from occurring again."