The benefits of immunizing children outweigh the risks

The TGA has provisionally approved the Pfizer vaccine for elementary school children aged 5 to 11 Sunday, with an ATAGI announcement expected soon to guide use in children, including the recommended gap between vaccine doses.

Children will receive one-third of the adult dose, with rollout scheduled to begin Jan.10. For most parents, this is extremely welcome news, but we expect parents to have questions, especially about vaccine safety.

Over the past few months, we’ve seen an increase in cases among children, with around a third of all cases occurring in children under the age of 19. With Omicron, the worrying new variant, we have seen more cases in young adults between the ages of 20 and 40 in South Africa, mostly unvaccinated, but as the epidemic progresses we will understand how it affects each group of age.

There has also been an increase in reports of hospitalizations among young children, but we need more information on severity across all age groups and this is being closely monitored. Omicron is more transmissible and has already reached Australia; another reason not to delay the protection of children.

So what are the risks of getting vaccinated for children? Vaccines have side effects just like any other medicine. For 5-11 year olds Pfizer vaccine clinical trial expected side effects occurred more frequently after the second dose and included arm pain, headache and fatigue, and occurred less frequently than in older adolescents and young adults. These side effects usually only require treatment with Panadol or Nurofen, as children rarely need to see a doctor.

Serious side effects are very rare and none were detected in the trial. Today, more than 5 million children have received the vaccine in the United States since early November and there have been no vaccine safety signals for myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) or pericarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle). lining around the heart). These side effects have been detected in adolescents and young people after the second dose, especially in young men between 16 and 17 years old (about 7 per 100,000), during the deployment of the vaccine in the population. Most young people need hospital monitoring for a night or two with pain relief or anti-inflammatory treatment, but have made a full recovery.

There is ongoing and robust vaccine safety surveillance in the Australian community through the TGA and AusVaxSafety and overseas health authorities to continuously monitor for any side effects. These risks must be weighed against the risks of children contracting COVID.

For Delta, the majority of children do not have symptoms or have symptoms like any other respiratory infection, such as fever, cough, runny nose and muscle pain. Severe disease is rare but occurs in children and adolescents, with less than 1% of children of primary school age testing positive in New South Wales and requiring hospitalization for treatment, usually for severe illness. oxygen or liquids.