Parents with healthy children between 5 and 12 years old should be given the opportunity to have their child vaccinated against corona, advises the Health Council. Although infection in children in that age group is generally mild, the benefits of vaccination outweigh the drawbacks. The Health Council previously advised vaccinating children in poor health.
Outgoing Health Minister De Jonge has yet to decide whether he will accept the advice, but usually he does. Yesterday, the House of Representatives also adopted a motion to give parents the choice to have their child vaccinated if the Health Council is in favor of this.
The Health Council says that children have direct and indirect health benefits from vaccination. A very small number of children will suffer from MIS-C, a serious inflammatory reaction in the vital organs, a few weeks to months after a corona infection. Sometimes hospitalization or ICU admission is also necessary. Vaccination is estimated to prevent about 100 to 150 cases of MIS-C, says the Health Council.
The indirect advantage is that the social consequences of corona may remain more limited if children aged 5 to 11 are also vaccinated against corona. At the moment many children in that age are infected, for example at school.
Vaccinating children can help reduce virus circulation in society, reducing the need for restrictive measures. This increases the chance that children will have full access to school, sports clubs and social contacts.
Effects
The Health Council has weighed the advantages against the disadvantages of vaccination. According to the advice, those disadvantages are very limited. Children can experience side effects like adults, but they are usually mild: “Injection site pain, fatigue and headache.”
In very rare cases myocarditis – an inflammation of the heart muscle – can occur, as has been seen in young people over 12. However, the Health Council considers the chance of this to be very small. Children ages 5 to 11 receive one-third the dose of older children and adults.
Internationally, no cases of myocarditis have been detected after vaccination in children aged 5 to 11, says the Health Council. Millions of children in that age group have already been vaccinated in the US, Canada and Israel.
In addition, the risk of inflammation of the heart muscle from a corona infection is many times greater than from vaccination. Of the children who contracted MIS-C as a result of corona, 70 percent suffered from heart complaints.
Health benefits for society
Vaccinating children offers direct and indirect benefits not only to the children themselves, but potentially to society as a whole: “While it appeared at an earlier stage of the pandemic that children were less contagious than adults, children since the emergence seem of new virus variants are now as contagious as adults and the circulation among children is currently high.”
However, that argument has not been weighty. “The fact that vaccination of children also entails some health gain for the population as a whole is considered an additional advantage by the Committee, which has been included, but has not been a guiding factor in its decision.”
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) already approved the Pfizer vaccine last month for children aged 5 to 11. According to the EMA, the vaccine is as effective as in people over 12 and safe. Last week the Health Council gave a positive judgment about vaccinating children ages 5 to 11 with underlying medical problems.
–
