Dr Soumya Swaminathan, chief scientist at the World Health Organization, said that all parents are concerned about their children, their safety and whether they should get Covid vaccines, noting that it is known that the majority of healthy children and adolescents, even if they contract Covid-19 infection, they Fortunately they do not get very sick.
In episode 71 of the “Science in Five” program, presented by Vismita Gupta Smith, and broadcast by the World Health Organization on its official accounts on communication platforms, Dr. Somya added that there are special cases among children that require more care, especially those children, who suffer from Some basic diseases, such as obesity or those with some genetic abnormalities such as Down syndrome, children with diabetes, severe asthma or other respiratory diseases, children with underlying neurological conditions, myopathy, muscle weakness, etc., explaining that these children More likely to have severe Covid, and there is also a percentage of people, including children, who develop symptoms after recovering from Covid, which is called post-Covid syndrome or long-term Covid.
inflammatory disease
Dr. Swaminathan explained that the symptoms can be in the form of fatigue, headache and various types of symptoms, which sometimes last for weeks or months, noting that it has been observed that some children, albeit rare cases, may develop a type of inflammatory disease, which is called MIS. -C, After the acute phase of Covid infection, so it is good to protect children, and the World Health Organization recommends that children over the age of five can receive the Covid vaccine.
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Long term covid for children
Dr. Swaminathan explained that the first reason is to protect children from contracting the disease and from contracting the long-term Covid syndrome, and the second reason is to reduce transmission of infection in the community. The third reason, she added, is that the goal of vaccinating children and adolescents along with adults is that economies open up, and educational institutions can remain open without the risk of having to close frequently.
Dr. Swaminathan went on to say that when the World Health Organization is currently providing guidance to countries, it is of course recommending that all countries start vaccinating the most at-risk groups: the elderly and medical personnel, adults with co-morbidities, and children who are most at risk of serious disease. But once countries can vaccinate these groups, surely children and adolescents can also be vaccinated.
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Best options
Dr Swaminathan said the WHO examines files provided by companies and provides a list of emergency uses. The Pfizer Biontech vaccine is currently approved for children over the age of five, and the Moderna vaccine for children around age 12. Several countries have also licensed different vaccines for use in immunizing children based on their own regulatory agencies, after examining data on safety and efficacy. Therefore, there are a number of antiviral vaccines such as AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson and inactivated vaccines such as Sinopharma, Sinovac, Covaccin and Novavax, which are approved in different countries for different age groups.
Dr. Swaminathan explained that the best decision is to follow the countries’ guidelines, because they all looked very carefully and made sure that the benefits of vaccination outweighed the risks, stressing that so far among the millions of children who have been vaccinated around the world, extremely rare side effects have been monitored, explaining that of course it can Just like adults, children have some fever, some soreness at the injection site, and possibly some physical aches that last for a day or two.
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Important precautionary measures
Dr. Swaminathan said that in the absence of any of the approved vaccines, there are many other things that can be done to keep children safe, especially children at high risk, including the obligation of everyone to wear protective masks when meeting many strangers from outside the family and in Educational institutions. All children over the age of six should be encouraged to wear protective masks when in crowded places. Dr. Swaminathan advised that parents make sure to practice as many outdoor activities as possible with these children and to keep doors and windows open in homes and other environments such as educational institutions where these children spend a lot of time, and if this is not possible, it must be ensured Everyone wears a face mask, and adults or children with a cough and cold stay at home for a few days and don’t come and mingle with other colleagues.
She pointed out that washing hands regularly protects against Covid disease as well as other infectious diseases. Most importantly, all adults who come into contact with such children are vaccinated, because getting vaccinated protects them from severe disease and reduces the risk of spreading the infection.
Dr. Swaminathan concluded, saying that it is important to remember that the Corona virus is changing and new variables such as Omicron appear, and therefore vaccines alone were not sufficient to stop infection completely, but protection is always done by obtaining vaccinations in addition to following all other precautionary measures and personal preventive measures.