Experts divided as Centre announces vaccines for 12-14 age group
India Today
The government's nod to vaccinating 12 to 14 year olds from Wednesday has the health experts divided. Many believe there is no need to vaccinate children.
Starting Wednesday, 12-14 year olds will be eligible for vaccination against coronavirus in India. This comes after months of deliberations as the Centre expanded the vaccination programme to include another 6.5 crore children.
"The Union government, after due deliberations with scientific bodies, has decided to start the Covid-19 vaccination for 12-13 yr and 13-14 yr age groups (those born in 2008, 2009 and 2010 i.e. those who are already above 12) on 16th March 2022," the health ministry said in a press release.
India Today TV spoke with members of the National Technical Advisory Group (NTAGI) on Immunisation, who seemed to differ from the stand taken by the government.
"NTAGI did not give any recommendation to the Centre on a vaccine for children below 15 years of age. I am sorry to hear that the government has gone below 15. We have already seen a wave of BA.2 omicron in India, and there is no scientific basis to say that children who have been infected with omicron will now be more protected if they are vaccinated," Dr JP Muliyil, epidemiologist at CMC Vellore and member of the working group of NTAGI said.
Dr Prof Sanjay Rai, the lead investigator of covaxin trials at Delhi's AIIMS also emphasised that there is no need to vaccinate children when it comes to preventing the severity of the disease. "The mortality in children due to Covid-19 is less than 2 per million. The mortality in unvaccinated adults or those who have not survived natural infection is 1.5 per million, which means out of a million, 15,000 have died due to Covid-19. We are saving 13,000-14,000 people through vaccination in the adult groups. In children, the risk of Covid-19 is lower but deaths due to vaccination could be higher," he said.
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Sources in the government said that an AEFI, or adverse event following immunization, committee meeting was also convened to assess the adverse events of Covid vaccines in children between the ages of 16-18 last week. AEFI reports have not been made public since January 27, 2022.
