Against the background of the rapid deterioration of the epidemiological situation, the Ukrainian authorities started talking about COVID vaccination of children. And this is not surprising, because new strains are increasingly affecting adolescents – they get sick in a severe form and with long-term consequences, and sometimes even death.
Is the coronavirus dangerous for children, which countries have already introduced childhood vaccination and what doctors think about it – read the material OBOZREVATEL.
How is the coronavirus hitting Ukrainians?
Since the beginning of September, the number of cases and hospitalized in the country has been growing rapidly – if in June doctors recorded 500-700 new cases daily, now this figure has exceeded 20 thousand. The death rate from this disease has also reached record rates.
Against this background, the Ministry of Health talked about COVID vaccination of children from 14 years old. “Documents are being developed in relation to teenage children. But this will be later, because the period of paperwork continues – namely this contingent needs to be vaccinated today“, – said the head of the State Food and Consumer Service of Kiev Oleg Ruban.
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Similar information was announced by the chairman of the parliamentary committee on the health of the nation Mikhail Radutsky… According to him, in general 15-20% of those who are diagnosed with coronavirus every day today are children.
“And this is just the specifics of Delta. This is very bad, because children usually don’t wear masks, because they should have done it earlier, and children go to their grandparents. This is a problem,” says the People’s Deputy.
Coronavirus in children: the main questions
At the beginning of the pandemic, doctors believed that children were not infected, but now it is clear that this happens in them in the same way as in adults. In addition, with the arrival of a new wave of cases of infection of children, there have been more cases. Experts attribute this to the fact that the Delta strain, which has now spread throughout the world, is more actively transmitted from person to person and multiplies faster in the body.
For example, cases of mass infection of children with the Delta strain were recorded in the summer children’s camp “Young Guard” in Odessa. There, the coronavirus was confirmed in 50 children and three adults, most of them have the Delta strain.
October 18 in Chernihiv region from complications of COVID-19 9th grade student died, and a few days ago in the Ternopil region from the coronavirus baby diedwho was only three months old.
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Children tolerate the coronavirus in different ways, but most often they get sick easily and without symptoms. However, this does not mean that there is no danger. Indeed, recently, doctors have diagnosed a new disease in children who have undergone COVID-19: multisystem inflammation syndrome… With it, the child receives a high temperature, low blood pressure and oxygen deficiency. In the most severe cases, internal organ failure occurs.
Yes, and this is one of the main dangers. After all, children can become universal carriers: the disease proceeds without symptoms, which means that the child unconsciously infects others, for example, elderly grandparents.
No, so far, vaccination against coronavirus for people under 18 is prohibited in our country. Permission can be given only in two cases: either to travel abroad, or to seriously ill children with concomitant diseases. If the government approves the new document, then teenagers will be vaccinated only at will.
At the same time, the authorities can make the coronavirus vaccine mandatory. To do this, the COVID vaccine must be included in the calendar of mandatory preventive vaccinations. At the moment, this list includes: tuberculosis, hepatitis, tetanus, measles, mumps and other diseases.
How are children vaccinated in other countries?
The only drug approved in Europe and the United States for immunizing adolescents over 12 years old is the mRNA vaccine from Pfizer. The latest data from clinical trials show very good results – 90% effectiveness in preventing coronavirus in people aged 12-18 years. This is indeed concerns and the child population between the ages of 5 and 11.
In May, a US regulator authorized the use of the Pfizer vaccine for children 12-15 years old. Already, about 219 million Americans in this age group have received at least one dose. And soon the White House intends to start vaccinating children from five years old. The European Medicines Agency has also approved the use of the COVID vaccine in adolescents.
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In early June, Chinese authorities approved the emergency use of CoronaVac for children. According to a study published in the medical journal The Lancet, the drug has been shown to be highly effective in trials among children aged 3 to 17 years.
Also, the vaccination of adolescents was allowed in the following countries:
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Portugal;
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Cuba;
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Israel;
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France;
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Spain;
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Italy.
In March 2021, trials of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine began separately for three age groups: 6 months to 2 years, 2 to 5 years, and 5 to 11 years. According to the developers’ calculations, taking into account the third phase, the vaccine will be approved for children at the beginning or in the middle of winter.
Moderna’s vaccine for children 0-11 years old and teenagers 12-17 years old also began testing in March. Johnson & Johnson plans to start trials with older teens and then test its single-dose vaccine on younger children.
The World Health Organization has also changed its position on the issue of childhood vaccination. If earlier she stated that vaccination of children and adolescents was not worth it due to a lack of research, then the updated recommendations say that the drug Pfizer can be used for vaccination.
What do doctors think about it?
Ukrainian specialists, with whom OBOZREVATEL spoke, support the idea of vaccination of children. However, they remind about the insufficient number of vaccinated citizens among risk groups.
Doctor of Medicine, Head of the Department of Pediatric Infectious Diseases of the Bogomolets National Medical University Sergey Kramarev considersthat the coronavirus “attacked” children for two reasons:
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The delta strain is several times more infectious than the previous strains.
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A certain part of adults are either vaccinated or have been ill, therefore they have a certain level of immunity. Therefore, children who do not have immunity began to get sick.
“Children who come to our clinic have a more severe disease than in previous periods. There is also respiratory failure, children are more often in intensive care. They often require oxygen support and even mechanical ventilation” children after coronavirus, systemic inflammatory syndrome may occur.
As for vaccination, the doctor is sure: “first you need to protect risk groups, and then vaccinate children, because after all, children get sick more easily than adults. should be thrown into it. “
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Doctor of Medical Sciences Alla Volokha also notes that teenagers have recently begun to get sick much more often and more severely. According to her, in such a situation, it is necessary to quickly resolve the issue of vaccinations in order to protect the child population from a possible serious illness.
“Vaccination makes sense, because the child population is the main driving force behind the spread of COVID-19. Previously, the coronavirus in children was asymptomatic and mild, they often did not need hospitalization. They carried it on their feet, but thereby spread around them. the virus also infected grandparents. But the effect of the Delta strain also applies to children – we can see this by the occupancy of beds, “- said the doctor-epidemiologist Andrey Alexandrin.
Given the active mutation and the rate at which the coronavirus is spreading, Ukrainian parents will sooner or later have to think about vaccinating their children. However, everything will happen in stages: first, adolescents will be vaccinated, and only then, after receiving positive results, young people will be included in the program.
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