GREENVILLE, SC (WSPA) – A COVID vaccine study is underway for children from six months to five years old.

Tribe Clinical Research is participating in Pfizer’s trial. The company said they need your help, by participating in the study.

“It’s a competitive trial,” said Dr. Scott Dobson, Pediatrician & Investigator at Tribe Clinical Research. “They want to get as many kids in the trial as possible for right now. So, the more data we can have, then the better we’re going to all feel that the vaccine is efficacious, which means–does the vaccine work.”

“This is a phase three clinical trial with Pfizer, looking at the age group, six months to five years old for the COVID vaccine,” Dr. Dobson said. “Clinical trials work typically in various stages and phases, and so a phase three trial basically means it is already passed the point where we’re concerned about safety.”

“The COVID vaccine has been well studied, well documented in adults and now teenagers and then on down to five to 12,” said Dobson. “Now, we’re at six months to five years old.”

Dobson said three doses are given during this study. Officials said they will monitor patients during several visits for 21 months.

“So patients, if they enroll in the trial, it’s a very thorough process, where they’re evaluated to make sure they don’t have underlying medical conditions that would put them at risk,” Dobson said.

Not all parents are onboard just yet.

“Definitely think that it could be a good thing. Definitely because COVID is very unpredictable and scary, and so it could be a good thing. My biggest concern is that it’s just so new. I haven’t seen a lot of research on it,” said Priscilla Syphrit, a parent of two children under two-years-old.

“I haven’t seen anything on it for little kids, and personally as parent, I think I’d like to see more kids go through it – before I put my own children in it,” Syphrit said. “Like I’d like to see how other children have reacted to it, to weigh out the pros and cons for my own kids.”

“My thoughts on it really are, as a parent I just suggest that you do your research and just stay updated on the changes that they’re making,” said Casey Keller, a parent. “I don’t recommend it personally. None of my children will be getting it.”

Dr. Dobson is reassuring parents, and would like to see more children in the trial.

“We have a lot of confidence when a trial gets to this point, and we don’t even participate in trials that feel like this is an experiment,” Dr. Dobson said.

“For as long as COVID has been going now, I continue to say that the risk of getting COVID is exponentially more of a concern than the vaccine for all age groups. So, having a child with COVID has more risk both in the short term and the long term, that we may not even be aware of yet–compared to a vaccine that has now been proven to be safe,” Dobson said.

Syphrit said she will wait to see the impacts of the vaccine in smaller children, but said she has high hopes.

“I’d definitely sit back and watch and see how it affects other people first,” Syphrit said. “I definitely hope that it makes some kind of a difference because I would like as close to back to normal as we can get to,” she said.

Tribe Clinical Research hopes by people stepping up, they will be heroes for others.

“We want people to feel like they are safely contributing to the future of medicine and providing hope for others in a safe way,” Dr. Dobson said.

Representatives with the company said they have limited spots available. They also said participating families may receive compensation for time and travel.

To learn more click here, or call 864-334-0141.

Dr. Dobson also said 40 to 50 participants have already been seen or scheduled for this study.

He said they will keep going until Pfizer says they have enough data. There’s no word on how long this will last.