Hyderabad, November 22nd : , A specialist says that India’s children should be immunized against Covid-19, if supplies are readily available, after having vaccinated eligible adults. According to Dr.Krishna Reddy Nallamalla (a renowned cardiologist), vaccination is essential for children to prevent the spread of the pandemic.
To address safety issues, he also called for robust surveillance systems.
He stated that national policies for vaccinating children must address global inequities, priority setting within the context of mismatch demand-supply.
InOrder South Asia President Dr.Reddy pointed out that countries around the globe are adopting a policy whereby people who have higher risk of death or hospitalization due to inadequate vaccine supply tend to be given priority.
The global bodies also urge nations to think globally about priority setting.
This is important because the world will not be safe until there are enough people who have immunity protection.
These pose ethical problems for policymakers in all countries.
This same ethical problem is also present in vaccinations for children.Before we can consider Covid vaccines, it is important to make sure that all the vulnerable, including elderly, those with multiple diseases, and individuals with compromised immunity, receive required doses.”The same ethical problem exists in the case where booster doses are given,” stated Dr.Krishna Reddy who is Regional Director at ACCESS Health International.
After vaccinating adults, children should also be vaccinated.Although children are at low risk of developing severe or moderately serious illness, unvaccinated adults can transmit the virus to infected children.
It will also allow children to continue attending school as they did before.In the coming years, we will learn more about the long-term physical, psychological and scholastic consequences of prolonged school absences on children’s development.
All vaccines that have been approved for emergency use or authorized to be used in emergencies are capable of protecting against mild-to-severe Covid illnesses in adults over 18 years.Pfizer’s mRNA-based vaccine (BioNTech), has been granted emergency authorization for use in the United States.
Children in India have had their DNA-based and in-activated vaccines (Covaxin, ZyCoVV-D) tested.Covaxin can be tested on children between 2 and 18 years old, while ZyCoVV-D can only be tested on children 12-18 years of age.ZyCoV-D was approved for emergency use in children 12-18 years old.
The Central Drugs Standards Control Organization’s Subject Expert Committee (SEC), has recommended Covaxin to be used in children between 2 and 18 years.It is still awaiting approval by a drug regulator says Dr.Krishna Reddy.
The vaccines are now approved and tested for use in children.There is ongoing discussion and debate about the use of Covid vaccines.
Only a significant proportion of people are immune to the natural or vaccine-induced Covid pandemic.
According to R0 (reproductive rate) for the virus variant, this ranges between 65 and 85 percent of the population.
Nearly 40% of India’s population is under 18-year-olds.According to a health expert, the nation must ensure that sufficient children have immunity protection to prevent the spread of the pandemic.
Policy related to vaccination of children is affected by the issue regarding booster doses.Now it is clear that immunity decreases over time following vaccinations.
Many countries have already begun to recommend booster doses for vulnerable populations.Some countries have decided to offer booster doses to all citizens.
There is evidence that annual boosters for Covid illness are needed.This could be similar to the flu vaccines.In the near future, booster doses may be given to adults over children’s vaccines.
Dr.
Reddy stated that children need to have better post-vaccination surveillance in order to detect potential safety problems in the future.Children will have a different risk-to-benefit ratio than adults due to the low chance of them developing severe or moderately serious illness.
Concern was expressed about the possibility of myocarditis developing in young men who have received mRNA vaccinations.It was decided that vaccines have more benefits than the possible complications of myocarditis.
He said that India has weak surveillance systems and it was crucial to have a strong surveillance system in place before deciding on a policy for vaccination of children.
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