Children's Vaccine: When will the vaccination of children above six years start? Know how safe it will be to get children vaccinated

The Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) has approved three corona vaccines for children for emergency use (EUA). Corona vaccine 'Covaxin' for children 6-12 years old and Biologicals E's Kovid-19 vaccine Corbevax for children 5 to 12 years have been approved. At the same time, ZycovD (Zydus Cadila Vaccine) has also been approved for children above 12 years of age. Children over the age of 12 were already receiving the vaccine. Now the way has been cleared for the vaccination of children from 5 to 12 years.

What is the meaning of vaccine approval?

In India, the corona vaccine is being applied scientifically to people of different age groups at different stages. In the first phase, the vaccination of high-risk patients and the elderly started with health workers and frontline workers. After this, the vaccination of adults began. After increasing the availability of the vaccine and the trials of the vaccine on children, the vaccination of children in the age group of 15 to 18 years started in January this year. After this, in March, the vaccination of children from 12 to 14 years was also approved. Now in this episode, it is important to start vaccinating children above 5 years of age. The results of the trials conducted by the vaccine manufacturers were submitted to the DCGI. It is only after studying these results that DCGI has given emergency approval to the vaccination of children.

If approved, will the vaccination of children start immediately?

After getting the approval of DGCI, three different committees of experts of the government will study it. These include the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization, the Corona Working Group, and the Permanent Technical Sub-Committee. After the approval of these committees, the National Expert Group on Vaccine Management will recommend the use of both these vaccines to the Ministry of Health. After this, information about the start of vaccination will be given by the ministry. This whole process may take a few days. That is, the vaccination of children above five years of age will start in the coming few days.

 How safe would it be for children to get vaccinated?

Former Chief Scientist of ICMR Dr. Raman Gangakhedkar says that if children have any serious disease then they are more at risk of getting corona infected. This vaccine is very important for such children. What about children who do not have a serious illness? In response to this question, Doctor Gangakhedkar says that such children will have to see whether they had Omicron infection or not? If children have been infected, then giving them the vaccine can be postponed for a few days. Because they have protection from corona to an extent. Those who have not been infected with Omicron will be at risk of getting infected.

What is the danger to parents who do not want to give? On this question, Doctor Gangakhedkar says that the doctor can only tell the benefits of the vaccine. The parents will decide whether to get the rest of the vaccine or not. The doctor can only answer the patient's questions. He has to decide whether not to get it installed.

How important is getting a vaccine approved for children?

The corona vaccine protects the infected from the risk of serious illness, hospitalization, and death. Now that children's schools have opened, vaccination can play an important role in protecting them from the corona. Not only in India, but vaccination of children above five years of age has also started in other countries. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also recommends getting the vaccine for all children over the age of five. In the US, Pfizer's mRNA vaccine is being used to inject children.

 Which of the two vaccines that have been approved is more effective?

Bharat Biotech's trial of Covaxin has been successful on children aged two to 18 years. On the results of the trial, the company said that 1.7 times more antibodies are made in children than in adults. Children who received both doses of Covaxin had a very good immune response even after six months. The company says that the results of the trial have been very good. These results suggest that this vaccine is very safe for children. Covaxin is approved for children over the age of six. At the same time, the Corbevax vaccine will be administered to children above five years of age. Like Covaxin, two doses of Corbevax will be administered at an interval of 28 days. Corbevax is being made by Hyderabad-based company Biological E. If we talk about how effective Corbevax is, data from clinical trials in children aged five to 12 years is not publicly available. Even data from adult trials are not publicly available. In such a situation, it is difficult to tell how effective this vaccine is.

Also Read: 2 vaccines are approved for children Covaxin for children 6-12 years old and Zycov D for children over 12