Yesterday, the Health Council advised children aged 5 to 11 years to vaccinate against corona with vulnerable health. An advice that Minister De Jonge will probably adopt.
Pediatricians now also think that healthy children should be able to get an injection. Károly Illy, chairman of the Dutch Association for Pediatrics, mentions as an example that it can be good to vaccinate a child if there is a vulnerable member of the family, or if a grandfather or grandmother regularly babysits.
“And that you as parents say: given that it is a safe vaccine, I still appreciate having my child vaccinated,” says the pediatrician.
Rather reluctant
Previously, Illy was still reluctant. He had “difficulty” vaccinating young children. “Because then you actually use children as an instrument because adults do not take their responsibility,” he said at the end of November at EenVandaag.
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‘Do not actively advise to get vaccinated’
He still holds that position. “We haven’t moved on that,” he says. “We do not have the idea, at least as far as we know the figures now, that healthy children should be actively advised to get vaccinated. We do that with children over 12. We say: it is wise to vaccinated given the risks that children aged 12 and older run.”
Illy does not rule out the possibility that the position of the association will be adjusted at a later date. According to him, there is ‘constantly advancing insight’. He points out that a lot of knowledge is being gained now that thousands of children are being vaccinated in the United States, Israel and Austria, among others.
Advice
The Health Council is still working on an advisory report on whether the group of healthy children should also be eligible for a vaccine.
The advice about vulnerable children was a long time coming, according to some parents. Bettina for example. She previously tried to get a vaccine for her vulnerable daughter Carmen (7), but was unsuccessful.
“Doctors did not dare to take responsibility for it, because there was no approval yet,” she says in the video below:
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