Equity in research: a global consensus statement on the urgency of including children in Long Covid clinical trials.

'In summary, children should be included in ongoing and future clinical trials for Long Covid. Age-related protections and regulations must be incorporated, including obtaining institutional review board/research ethics approval along with paediatric assent and parental consent prior to including children in clinical trials. We urge clinicians and researchers to amend existing protocols and design future protocols to include children in clinical trial design in order to avoid unnecessary delays and harm for children with Long Covid. We also urge a clear statement from the WHO prioritising and facilitating the regulation and funding for clinical trials inclusive of children with Long Covid.'

Equity in research: a global consensus statement on the urgency of including children in Long Covid clinical trials

Published 23rd Mary 2025.

• Lael M. Yonker

• Binita Kane

• Etheresia Pretorius

• David Putrino

• Sammie McFarland 

• Petter Brodin

• Kanecia O. Zimmerman

• Daniel Munblit 

• Peter C. Rowe

• Theo Vos

• David Warburton

• Terence Stephenson

• Danilo Buonsenso 

Our thanks go to all the authors of this paper, including Sammie McFarland, Founder Long Covid Kids.

This paper is for my daughter and for Millions of other Children including all the family patient advocates who have been treading this path in the UK and around the world.

In 2020, my daughter developed Long Covid. She was a dancer, full of life, always active and social. Then, suddenly, she wasn’t, no matter what she tried she couldn't participate in life, her days were spent in bed mostly asleep. Like so many other families, we were left with more questions than answers, and few places to turn for help.

Sammie McFarland, Long Covid Kids CEO

Our message is clear: Children must be included in clinical trials for Long COVID. Right now, they’re being left behind.

The science is there. Children experience the same debilitating symptoms as adults, extreme fatigue, cognitive impairment, POTS, immune dysfunction - but when it comes to treatment trials, they’re often excluded simply because of their age.

We hear it from families every day: kids who can’t attend school, who can’t play with friends, who have been ill for years without access to care or answers. It is heartbreaking, and it is unnecessary.

Our paper shows:

• Children are affected in ways strikingly similar to adults.

• Many treatments being trialed in adults are already approved in children for other conditions.

• There are safe, ethical ways to include children in trials NOW, without waiting years.

Childhoods are being lost, or at best on pause. Recognising the impact of Long Covid on the paediatric population is long over due, every day we delay is another day a child suffers.

As a parent, I would give anything for my daughter, and other children and young people like her, to have timely access to real treatment options. I hope this paper helps move that forward.

Sammie McFarland, Long Covid Kids CEO

Please read, share, and urge those in research, funding, and policy: include children in Long Covid trials now. Because children and young people deserve more than to be left waiting.

Read Research Paper Here