Who is the Covid-19 vaccine contraindicated for? Do schoolchildren need covid vaccinations and how to vaccinate teachers, says UNICEF medical expert
On the eve of the new academic year, a decree of the Cabinet of Ministers on voluntary compulsory vaccination of teachers. By decision of the government, only those schools in which at least 80% of teachers will be vaccinated will be able to work offline. About why this is an informed decision, how to be teachers with contraindications to vaccination and whether it is necessary to vaccinate schoolchildren, said the pediatric infectious disease specialist, UNICEF medical expert Katerina Bulavinova.
Vaccination of teachers should be made mandatory
Teachers must be vaccinated / istockphoto.com
Despite the fact that vaccination against Covid-19 in our country is voluntary, teachers are in one of the largest risk groups, says Ekaterina Bulavinova. Indeed, in the new academic year, as in the previous one, a situation is not excluded when the school will send, if not sick, then at least contact children. That is why democracy is completely redundant here - first of all, from the point of view of the life and health of the teachers themselves.
“I would very much tighten the [vaccination] policy for teachers,” says Yekaterina Bulavinova. - For example, if an outbreak of diphtheria begins at school, which is quite possible in Ukrainian reality. Such outbreaks took place in the 90s and claimed the lives of a considerable number of people. Unvaccinated teachers can be infected by children and die. Or they may inject themselves in their garden and die from tetanus. The same is true for influenza vaccinations and other vaccines. "
Contraindications to the Covid-19 vaccine
Pregnancy is not a contraindication to covid vaccination / istockphoto.com
If the flu vaccine is sold commercially and costs dengue, then the coronavirus vaccine is absolutely free today. However, many (including teachers) refuse to do it out of fear and because of the large number of pseudo-contraindications that the Internet is full of. Ekaterina Bulavinova emphasizes that the only contraindication for the introduction of the second dose of the vaccine against Covid-19 is a serious allergic reaction to the first dose of the same vaccine (anaphylactic shock). But for the introduction of the first dose, there are practically no real contraindications.
“This is considered a disease during vaccination: runny nose, fever. Because it may be Covid, and we do not want a person to infect others at the time of vaccination, ”explains the UNICEF expert. - This is the only reason it is considered a contraindication, but you can get vaccinated after you have recovered. Once again, not because it is unsafe to vaccinate you when you have a runny nose or a fever, but because we want you not to infect other people. "
The expert also notes that in our country, doctors are often "reinsured" and give unreasonable contraindications for vaccination against coronavirus. For example, chronic or oncological diseases. But they, on the contrary, should be a factor for the vaccination of a person among the first. In addition, people of the following categories can and should be vaccinated against coronavirus:
- pregnant women (at any stage of pregnancy)
- people who are planning a child
- women during lactation
- people with diabetes
Vaccination against Covid-19 for children: should it be done
Schoolchildren will not be vaccinated soon in Ukraine / istockphoto.com
In general, vaccination of children in Ukraine is a very burning topic. In any school there are children who, for health reasons, cannot be vaccinated. However, there are much fewer real medical contraindications to vaccinations in children than there is in practice, says Ekaterina Bulavinova. And on this issue, she also supports compulsory vaccination: “I am a supporter of the position that exists in the United States, where unvaccinated children they have no right to go to school or university, unless there are some super-serious reasons for this, ”the UNICEF expert emphasizes.
As for the coronavirus vaccine for children, it makes sense, but this is not a priority task for Ukraine. “Some countries of the world have started vaccinating children at the age of 12. But in Ukraine this will not happen soon, because we must first of all vaccinate those who are at risk, and these are not young people and not children from 12 years old. First, we vaccinate everyone at risk, regardless of age, and everyone at an age at risk. And only because, if there is a vaccine, we will move on to adolescents, ”notes Katerina Bulavinova.
Coronavirus: forecast for fall 2021 from UNICEF
Fall outlook for coronavirus is pessimistic / istockphoto.com
Despite the relatively low dynamics of the incidence, the forecast for the fall for Covid-19 from the UNICEF expert is pessimistic. “Of course, we are improving the vaccination situation, but these are far from the numbers that allow us to feel safe by the fall,” says Ekaterina Bulavinova. - Perhaps we will succeed. But this depends on many factors: on the availability of vaccine in large quantities, on the throughput of vaccination points, on how much people will want to be vaccinated. However, I am not inclined at the moment to be optimistic at all. If only because the numbers of cases have dropped very much, the mortality figures remain quite expressive. It is a very aggressive disease that very much reveals all the shortcomings of medical care ”.
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