Corona vaccinations: STIKO recommendation only for previously ill children

Thomas Mertens, Standing Vaccination Commission, recommends vaccinations only for children with previous illnesses

tagesschau24 4:00 p.m., June 10, 2021

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Low risk of serious illness in the age group

The chairman Thomas Mertens agreed to the decision of the STIKO tagesschau24, you have weighed benefits and possible risks against each other. The study situation says very clearly that the vaccination is effective – “also with the children, that is not a question”.

The problem, however, is that ultimately only 1130 children were vaccinated and observed over two months in the study. According to Mertens, this does not allow any reliable conclusions to be drawn about the rarer side effects. If the data situation changes in such a way that this risk can be excluded with sufficient certainty, the STIKO will re-examine the data and, if necessary, adjust the recommendation.

However, Mertens also pointed out that serious illnesses are very rare in the age group in question. It does happen again and again. “Overall, however, the disease burden on children is actually very low.” This can also be seen in the fact that there were only two deaths in the age group in the course of the entire pandemic in Germany. These were children with serious previous illnesses.

General practitioners and paediatricians welcome the decision

The German Association of General Practitioners and the Professional Association of Pediatricians (BVKJ) welcomed the STIKO’s decision. “We can work with this recommendation – it defines a clear group and still leaves room for individual vaccination decisions,” it said in a press release. “At the same time, the STIKO is sending out a signal that the decision to vaccinate still rests with science and medicine, doctors and patients – and not with politicians.”

The recommendation is “a good basis for us paediatricians to deal responsibly with voluntary vaccination in this age group,” said BVKJ President Thomas Fischbach. In view of the shortage of vaccines and the sparse data situation, it is “incomprehensible why politics brought the subject into public discussion so early”.

EMA approval at the end of May

Following a recommendation from the drug authority EMA, the EU Commission officially approved the vaccination of children from the age of twelve with the vaccine from BioNTech / Pfizer at the end of May. The STIKO had already indicated several times that, due to a lack of data, it initially did not want to make a general vaccination recommendation for all children from twelve.

Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) had announced that he wanted to involve children and young people in the vaccination campaign even without a general STIKO recommendation. It is then an individual decision by parents, their children and the doctors.