A week after the green light from the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the High Authority for Health (HAS) recommended the opening of the vaccination against the coronavirus for children aged 5 to 11 at risk of a serious form of the disease, and awaits new elements for a possible enlargement to all children, she explained in an opinion issued on Tuesday.
Outside of mainland Europe, Pfizer’s vaccine has already been approved for children aged 5 to 11 in some countries, including the United States, Israel and Canada.
More than 360,000 children concerned
“The High Authority for Health issues a first opinion on the vaccination of children of this age group and recommends it for all those who present a risk of developing a serious form of the disease and of dying and for those living in the entourage of immunocompromised or vulnerable people not protected by vaccination ”, we can read in the HAS press release. On November 25, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) gave the green light to vaccinate children aged 5 to 11 with Pfizer. These include children suffering from chronic hepatic diseases, chronic heart and respiratory diseases, neurological diseases, obesity, diabetes, primary immunodeficiency or even with Down’s syndrome.
This concerns a total of just over 360,000 children in France, she explains. For the others, she “will decide later on the relevance of expanding this vaccination after hearing the stakeholders”. “These hearings will aim to shed light on the individual benefit / risk ratio of the vaccination of children for whom the risk of occurrence of a severe form or of death is low in relation to the possible risk of occurrence of rare adverse effects”, she adds. .
A high incidence rate
In recent weeks, the Covid-19 epidemic has experienced a very rapid recovery, with a sharply increasing incidence rate in all age groups, including children. As a result of the vaccination of children aged 12 to 17, the 6 to 11 age group is now the one, among school children, which has the highest incidence rate, recalls the HAS.
In addition to the HAS, the government seized the National Ethics Committee (CCNE) to decide on the advisability of vaccinating children. In any case, if it were decided, “this vaccination would not begin in France before the beginning of the year 2022”, recently indicated the Minister of Health.
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