Children aged between six months and four years who are considered particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 are recommended to get the vaccine as the virus is actively spreading, a recommendation issued by the national health authority on Monday writes.
The recommendation issued on Monday also targets children with co-morbidities such as chronic heart or respiratory disease, obesity, Down’s syndrome and immunodeficiency, and those “living in the environment of immunocompromised people or those who do not respond to vaccination”, the health authority said.
The recommendation is based on studies carried out by the government health agency Santé Publique France that point to infants below one year old making up 70% of hospitalisations and 84% of admissions to critical care among 0-17-year-olds.
Young children are also showing tolerance to the vaccine as “no deaths, no cases of myocarditis or pericarditis have been reported in the various studies conducted,” the authority added.
Were the government to align with the health authority’s position, the Pfizer vaccine would be the only viable option for this age group as it turned out to be more than 80% effective against symptomatic infections in the targeted age group so far, the health body added.
For young people aged 12 to 17 “who cannot or do not wish to be vaccinated with an mRNA vaccine”, the authority is also proposing to authorise the Novavax vaccine.
At the time of writing, the Health Ministry did not answer EURACTIV on whether it would follow the health authority’s recommendation on vaccinating young children.
For several weeks now, the health authority has been insisting “on the importance of vaccination – and in particular the booster – to protect the most vulnerable people”.
Less than one in two people over 65 years of age has received two booster doses despite this being recommended by the health authorities.
(Davide Basso | EURACTIV.fr)
Source: euractiv.com
