Which child needs the Covid-19 vaccine? What kind of coronavirus vaccine can children be vaccinated with? New recommendations from WHO and STIKO
A month ago, the Ministry of Health of Ukraine allowed to vaccinate children against coronavirus. True, not all, but only those who are over 12 years old, and then under certain conditions. For example, if a child travels to another country. To get vaccinated, you need to contact your family doctor, who will confirm the grounds for vaccination. But our list of these grounds is much less than in the world. Recently, the Standing Committee on Vaccinations at the Robert Koch Institute (STIKO) updated the recommendations on coronavirus vaccinations for children over 12 years old. Scientists have expanded the list of childhood diseases for which vaccination is required.
Vaccination against coronavirus for children in Ukraine
In Ukraine, a child needs a doctor's opinion to be vaccinated against covid / istockphoto.com
According to our rules, only those children who have reached the age of 12 can be vaccinated against Covid-19. This is a world practice: now children of an earlier age are vaccinated only in Israel (they were allowed to do vaccination for children from 5 years old) and in Cuba (there, from the middle of September, they are going to vaccinate children from 2 years old of their own vaccine). The explanation for this approach is simple - firstly, there is still not enough base on the safety of vaccinations against covid for young children. Secondly, children under 12 years old, as a rule, tolerate the disease easily and without complications.
At the same time, everyone will not be able to vaccinate a child against a coronavirus. According to the decision of the Ministry of Health, this requires an official basis. Such a basis may be:
- high risk of a severe course of the disease against the background of chronic or oncological diseases;
- going abroad (for permanent residence with relatives, for training or for competitions), provided that you need to cross the border vaccination certificate;
- coming from a country where the child received the first dose of vaccine (this must be documented), and a second dose is needed to complete the vaccination course.
To book a child for vaccination, you must first go to the family doctor. The doctor must issue a document on the basis of which the child can be vaccinated. This could be:
- medical opinion that the child's illness puts him at risk and requires vaccination;
- a free-form certificate that the child is really traveling abroad (you will need to attach a confirmation of the change of residence, a call to study or participation in competitions);
- a free-form certificate that the child has received one dose of vaccine abroad.
Only then can you contact your nearest vaccination center and ask about the availability of the vaccine. According to Ukrainian and international rules, children over 12 years old can only be vaccinated with Pfizer / BioNTech Comirnaty. If such a drug is available, the child can be scheduled for vaccination. In this case, do not forget to take with you all the documents that provide the basis for the vaccination.
Vaccination against covid for children: STIKO recommendations
Among the indications for vaccination against covid pulmonary and heart disease / istockphoto.com
The latest WHO recommendations on whether children should be vaccinated against coronavirus are dated July this year. In them, experts say that it is worth vaccinating only those children who are at risk. As for risk groups, detailed information can be found on the STIKO website. This is the Standing Committee on Vaccinations at the Robert Koch Institute, one of the most authoritative research resources on Covid-19 in Germany and around the world.
At the beginning of September, STIKO experts updated the list of diseases and conditions in which children from 12 to 17 years old are recommended to undergo a course of vaccination against coronavirus. If earlier it was mainly oncological diseases, now the list looks like this:
- obesity (percentile BMI 97 or more)
- congenital or acquired immunodeficiency or relevant immunosuppression
- congenital heart defects with cyanosis (when saturation at rest is less than 80%)
- severe heart failure
- severe pulmonary hypertension
- chronic lung disease
- chronic renal failure
- chronic neurological or neuromuscular diseases
- malignant tumor diseases
- Down syndrome
- decompensated diabetes mellitus
- oncology
In addition, STIKO recommends vaccinating those children who are in close contact with unprotected (unvaccinated) people. For example, if the family has younger brothers and sisters who cannot be vaccinated due to age. If there is a pregnant woman or a person who vaccination against coronavirus is contraindicated (for example, with allergies to components of the vaccine). It is also possible and necessary to vaccinate adolescents who study in a specialty with an increased risk of infection (for example, students of medical colleges).
STIKO recommendations in our country are not considered an official basis for vaccinating a child against covid. However, if you find your child's diagnosis in the list of diseases, this is a reason to talk with the family doctor and get a medical opinion from him. Remember that STIKO, like the Ministry of Health, only allows children to be vaccinated with Pfizer / BioNTech Comirnaty. This is the only vaccine to date that has passed the necessary tests.
If your child is healthy, and there are no people from risk groups in the family to whom he can "bring" the infection - remember: no reputable organization in the world recommends vaccinating children against coronavirus "for prevention ". Firstly, the transferred disease forms a stronger immunity than the vaccine. Secondly, it has been proven that a healthy child's body copes with covid quite easily.
In the latest study published on the STIKO website, 1,000 children between 12 and 17 years of age received a full course of the Covid-19 vaccination. Another 1000 children received a placebo instead of vaccination. In the first group, no one fell ill with coronavirus, in the second group 16 children, or 1.6% of the total, were infected. This suggests that vaccination is not necessary for healthy children.
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