Immunity and COVID

The changing scenario around the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic has created awareness among all spheres of people. To control the spread of the pandemic, scientists throughout the world have been working day and night to develop a suitable, safe and effective vaccine against this deadly virus. Due to the extraordinary global collaboration and determination, COVID-19 vaccines have been successfully developed in less than a year time, though the effectiveness is still being studied. ¹

About 32% of the world population is children below 18 years. Hence, safety and protection for this generation have become essential. This can be attained by vaccinating the children. Children account for 1 in 9 SARS-CoV-2 infections, but they generally develop mild symptoms and recover fully, still, the concern remains as complications include the inflammatory and potentially deadly condition Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C). ¹

WHO′s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) has suggested that the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine could be used by children of 12 years and above and may be offered alongside other priority groups for vaccination. ²

Reports from the UK also state that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has been approved in the UK for use among children over 12 yrs. Regarding safety, the EMEA states that there have been one-to-two cases per million people, who developed inflammation of the heart muscle (myocarditis) and of the sac the heartbeats inside (pericarditis) after being vaccinated. Nearly everyone made a full recovery. ³

The EU approved the Pfizer vaccine for over-12s. France, the Netherlands and Italy have already started vaccinating children over 12 years. Reports state that Germany has agreed to vaccinate children over 12 yrs with Pfizer vaccine only if they suffered from any pre-existing medical condition.³

The US has approved vaccination for all over 12 yrs, but disclosed the occurrence of a rare disease (Inflammatory Multisystem Syndrome) in children, Further, the US has plans to vaccinate children over 4 years by the year-end. The Hong Kong government rolled out the Pfizer vaccine to over-12 yrs.³

In India, recent discussions and reports state that Zydus Cadila has been developing DNA vaccines and have concluded its trials for the 12-18 age group. They also stated that the vaccine would be available in near future. Bharat Biotech has received permission to test its vaccine, Covaxin, among children between 2 and 18 yrs. This statement was made in response to a petition which showed concern and wanted minors and their parents to be made a priority group in Delhi’s vaccination drive.⁴

If the Covaxin trial tests were successful among children between 2 and 18 yrs, a much wider population of would-be vaccinated, and this would be very helpful in breaking the chain of COVID-19 virus transmission and controlling the pandemic.

References:

1. https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/value-covid-19-vaccines-children-roadmap-safer-world?gclid=Cj0KCQjw6NmHBhD2ARIsAI3hrM294RjTZDMhyM1Xv5kwRvzQqT3ujVECYvEpJta4y5qh_1XDrWFqY3gaAqs8EALw_wcB
2. https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/coronavirus-disease-(covid-19)-vaccines?adgroupsurvey={adgroupsurvey}&gclid=Cj0KCQjw6NmHBhD2ARIsAI3hrM1mr0HPh4iQ0KOgiSni8FEkF_EV3AMeeKzE2UV-9ZNIai_NnmjPoy4aAsOREALw_wcB
3. https://www.bbc.com/news/health-57888429
4. indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/covid-vaccine-trial-on-children-near-completion-policy-will-be-implemented-soon-after-approvals-centre-to-hc-7407555/