For the first time in France, babies can be vaccinated against Covid-19. Health authorities now recommend the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to some children over 6 months of age but, unlike in the United States, not to all of them.
The High Authority for Health (HAS) “recommends extending vaccination against Covid-19 as of today to children aged 6 months to 4 years old at risk of a serious form of the disease and death”she announced on Monday, December 19.
This is the first time that an anti-Covid vaccine (only that of Pfizer-BioNTech is concerned) has been approved in France for babies. The opinions of the HAS are theoretically advisory, but the Ministry of Health follows them almost systematically. The recommendation of the French health authorities is however much tighter than the advice given by their European counterparts a few weeks ago.
In the direction of the United States
They had recommended the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for all babies from 6 months to 4 years old, judging that the benefits outweighed the risks. They had also recommended another vaccine, that of Moderna, for all babies from 6 months to 5 years old.
These opinions were in line with the decisions taken in the United States where, for several months, all babies over 6 months old can be vaccinated against Covid.
Few vaccinated children
The French authorities, for the time being, have only authorized the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Above all, as other European countries such as Germany and the Netherlands have already decided, they limit its use to certain categories of babies: essentially, those who are at risk of serious complications.
This includes “children who have any of these comorbidities: congenital heart disease, chronic liver disease, chronic heart and respiratory disease (including severe asthma requiring ongoing treatment), neurological disease, primary or drug-induced immunodeficiency , obesity, diabetes, hematological malignancies, sickle cell disease and trisomy 21 »lists the HAS.
Added to this are the cases of “recent cancer, chronic kidney disease or neurological disability”. Vaccination is also recommended for babies whose entourage is at risk of a severe form of Covid. This opinion is part of a context where very few French children are vaccinated against Covid, while vaccination has been open to children under 12 since the end of 2021.
Greater risk for older people
Currently, barely 5% of children aged 5 to 11 are vaccinated in France. “The failure of childhood vaccination helps explain the poorer overall results of vaccination in France compared to Italy, Spain and Portugal”, noted the Court of Auditors in a recent report on anti-Covid vaccination in France.
The Covid first represents a significant risk for the oldest. But severe cases and deaths also exist in children, especially when they are at risk for severe forms. To justify the opening of vaccination to certain babies, the HAS rightly pointed out that it was first of all especially on the little ones that the serious forms of Covid in children were concentrated.
According to the latest data available in France, “those under one year accounted for 70% of hospitalizations for 0-17 year olds and 84% of critical care admissions”, underlines the health authority. She considers the efficacy data available on the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in children under 4 years old to be convincing, while emphasizing that the risk of serious side effects does not appear to be proven.
Three injections instead of two
“No deaths, no cases of myocarditis or pericarditis were reported in the various studies carried out”, notes the HAS. If the parents concerned decide to vaccinate their baby, it will, in any case, be with a different version of the vaccine than those used for adults or older children.
This is a lower dose vaccine which is given in three injections, instead of two. The first interval should last three weeks, the second at least eight.