Vaccine for children should be given on priority basis, say doctors

‘Age is the most significant risk factor for COVID-19 complications’

Children are extremely unlikely to develop complications, severe disease or death due to COVID-19, unlike even the youngest adult, and panic created by any bad outcomes in children can in fact be counter-productive for the entire paediatric vaccination process, according to experts.

Speaking about balancing benefits and risks of COVID-19 vaccination in children in India, Dr. Rajeev Jayadevan, vice chairman, research cell, Indian Medical Association (IMA), Kerala, said age was the most significant risk factor for COVID-19 complications. The important question was, is vaccination of crores of healthy children worth it just to prevent a few asymptomatic and mild infections for the first few months alone?

“The short period of protection makes paediatric COVID-19 vaccination unattractive - when done for the purpose of preventing infection. The concept of ‘herd immunity’ is not valid any more for the virus, as sterilising immunity does not occur and reinfection/breakthrough infections are common,’’ he stated.