Covid vaccines for children, as experts and states divide
Ema's opinion on Covid vaccines for children will arrive on November 29, but European states and experts do not agree. Facts and insights
If almost all European countries have started vaccinating children aged 12 and over, the knot on children aged 5 to 11 has yet to be solved. But now, there would be a date on when the European Medicines Agency (EMA) will decide.
According to what was anticipated by the president of the Italian drug agency (Aifa) Giorgio Palù, the opinion will arrive on 29 November and "we will follow what the EMA will decide", said the virologist.
WHAT THE EMA WILL SAY
The EMA, which began the review of Covid vaccines for children on October 18 , will give an assessment on the use of Pfizer / BioNTech's vaccine, as Moderna only submitted the same authorization request on November 9th .
According to Il Sole24Ore , Pfizer should receive a yes from the European Authority, but not without difficulty. There would, in fact, be a group of Northern European countries ready to resist.
WHICH EUROPEAN COUNTRIES COULD OPPOSE
Sweden and Denmark, according to the business newspaper, would be the most hostile to the authorization of Covid vaccines for children – and could also bring other countries to their side. However, this should not affect the final outcome which would still reach a majority such as to see yes triumph.
THE RISKS OF NO
The goal remains to reach a more homogeneous opinion as possible in order not to further feed the theses of the no vaxes and to get closer and closer to 100% immunization at a time when the virus begins to circulate more quickly – even through children who are a vehicle of contagion.
It is not excluded, adds Il Sole24Ore , that a "relationship" emerges from this minority of opposing countries, as happened with Denmark which decided on the AstraZeneca vaccine in a different way than the Ema .
WHO DECIDES
Within the EMA, the Committee for medicinal products for human use (Chmp) gives the authorization or not. The Committee is made up of one expert from each European country, plus another five chosen by the EU Commission.
THERE ARE THOSE WHO DO IT FOR ITSELF
Meanwhile, in Austria, where 13,000 infections were recorded on Saturday alone, Vienna will be the first European city to offer Pfizer's vaccine also to children between 5 and 11 years old. The country's vaccination rate is steady at 65%. A figure "shamefully low" to use the words of Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg when he announced the entry into force since yesterday of the lockdown for the unvaccinated.
THE RISK-BENEFIT RELATIONSHIP
Both among those in favor and among those who are against Covid vaccines in children, the final decision is based on the risk-benefit ratio. Without vaccine among the under 12s, according to the numbers reported by Sole24Ore , "in addition to the increase in infections there are also serious forms among the youngest".
In Italy, between the ages of 5 and 11, in fact, “there have been 16 deaths so far and hospitalizations are also growing, including those in intensive care. To this must be added the 239 cases of MIS-C (child's multi-systemic inflammatory syndrome) surveyed by the Rheumatology Study Group of the SIP, a complication from Covid-19 which also affected children without previous pathologies as well as cases of long Covid in the pediatric band ".
For this reason, the Italian Society of Pediatrics (Sip) has already sided in favor of vaccinating children, which in Italy are about 3.5 million.
EXPERTS IN FAVOR
About these data, the health director of the Irccs Galeazzi Orthopedic Institute of Milan Fabrizio Pregliasco, in an interview said : "I hope that soon it will be possible to vaccinate children too, as soon as there is the green light from the Ema, considering that even for them Covid is not a walk in the park and has long-term effects ".
“One in a thousand has multisystem inflammatory syndrome which creates problems. The little ones – added Pregliasco – are affected by the Delta variant, therefore vaccinating them would reduce many chances of contagion. They must also be vaccinated to keep the school open, because there are starting to be many classes in quarantine ”.
To underline the major difficulties posed by the spread of the Delta variant even among the smallest is also Guido Rasi, consultant to the Covid Emergency Commissioner Francesco Paolo Figliuolo, who argues that "vaccine protection is above all for themselves because we see that, unfortunately, the Delta variant in this fourth wave will not spare them either ”.
Paolo Rossi, head of the pediatrics department of the Bambino Gesù hospital, asks : “Children within the first year of life receive the hexavalent which contains six vaccines: diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, hepatitis B, polio and Haemophilus influenzae. Why should we fear the puncture we are now offering them to keep them safe? ".
EXPERTS NOT TOO MUCH IN FAVOR
Much more cautious, however, is the position of Maurizio Bonati of the Mario Negri Institute in an interview with Corriere della Sera : “Vaccinating children aged 5-11 is not a priority. We have time to decide. We are waiting for clarity ".
Bonati seems to have no doubts about the efficacy and safety of the vaccine "in the short term", however he justifies the numbers quoted above as follows: "If children get the infection they experience mild symptoms. Since 2020, 16 have died but from other concomitant pathologies. The risk is thousands of times lower even taking into account the very rare multisystem inflammatory syndromes (Mis-c), late expressions of Covid ".
Vaccines against Covid "only to fragile children" , is the opinion of the director of the Inmi Spallanzani of Rome, Francesco Vaia, who fully agrees with the director general of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who stated that it is "senseless the vaccine for children and the booster for healthy if those who risk are without".
Vaia finally added that "social responsibility must not belong to children but to adults, parents, grandparents and teachers".
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/sanita/vaccini-anti-covid-ai-bambini-come-si-dividono-esperti-e-stati/ on Tue, 16 Nov 2021 09:52:57 +0000.