Children between the age of five and eleven can now get vaccinated voluntarily, a regulation that previously only affected vulnerable individuals in that age group. The decision to change course came as a reaction to the rise of the Omicron variant, but is it justified and appropriate?
At the very beginning of the year, the Superior Council for Infectious Diseases published a recommendation that the entire five to eleven age group be vaccinated. The council based this assessment on studies from the US that monitored more than eight million vaccinated children.
Side effects following a Covid-19 inoculation are considered to be minimal, says Dr De La Fuente: “Most reports included secondary effects like fever and sore muscles, and there were cases where children were not able to attend school the next day. Even rarer were fever convulsions, but that should not be a cause of concern since other vaccines are known to have similar effects.” The paediatrician also emphasised that all these side effects can easily be treated.
In general, the vaccine helps protect children from complications during a Covid-19 infection. Although they are less at risk, children can still develop said complications, explained Dr De La Fuente: “Studies have shown that there is in fact a risk for people below the age of 18 to develop diabetes in the months following a Covid-19 infection. This shows that even though infections tend to be less sever for children, there is still a risk for the virus to provoke disorders in their immune systems.”
The rise of the Omicron variant has brought about a drastic increase in cases and with it a higher likelihood that children suffer from complications, which is why the paediatrician believes in the importance of vaccinating them: “It is true that we are in a race against time with Omicron. The World Health Organisation estimates that one in two people will be infected over the coming weeks. Vaccinating children would thus make most sense right now since the virus is circulating so much.”
Dr De La Fuente further underlined that this need would not have come about if enough adults had gotten vaccinated. It is now more urgent than ever to achieve herd immunity and allow children to lead a normal life. She also stressed that her door is always open to counsel parents who remain uncertain about the vaccine. Alternatively, people may read through the recommendation issued by the Superior Council for Infectious Diseases, which you can find with the help of this link.
