The corona vaccines have so far been approved for adults and not for children – that is changing now! The European Medicines Agency releases the first corona vaccine for children aged 12 and over.
With the corona vaccination , it can only be administered to tested groups of people. For this reason, children and adolescents have not yet been taken into account in the distribution of the three approved vaccines – until now.
Table of Contents
Corona vaccine for children aged 12 and over approved by EMA
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) recommends releasing the Biontech/Pfizer vaccine for the 12 to 15 age group . Following this recommendation, the EU Commission, together with the Member States, will now formally decide on approval in the EU. At today’s vaccination summit, the federal and state governments agreed that children and young people aged 12 and over will be vaccinated in Germany from June 7th, provided the EU authority gives the go-ahead.
Study: 100 percent effectiveness of the Biontech vaccine
The Canadian and American supervisory authorities had previously approved the corona vaccine for children and adolescents aged 12 and over. A clinical study with almost 2,300 subjects aged 12 to 15 years showed an effectiveness of 100 percent, according to the results at the end of March. The company said the vaccine was well tolerated and the same side effects existed in the 16 to 25 age group. After receiving the first dose of vaccine, study participants will continue to be monitored for up to two years for safety reasons.
At the same time, a study is being carried out on the effectiveness and safety of the corona vaccine in children between the ages of six months and eleven years . BioNTech expects to release data on this by September. It may be a while before the first children are vaccinated with the vaccine.
AstraZeneca has been testing its vaccine on 300 volunteers aged six to 17 since February.
Last December, Moderna began a study of 3,000 minors in the United States. Two thirds of the participants get the vaccine, the rest a placebo. The adolescents are vaccinated twice at intervals of one month and are then monitored for 13 months. The study is expected to be completed in mid-2022.
Corona vaccination in children: rule out side effects!
For ethical reasons, according to the Robert Koch Institute, it is not possible for children to be included in the development of vaccines. Before the clinical trial in children, it must be ensured that no serious side effects have occurred in the studies in adults. “The younger the person is, the more pronounced he can react and the stronger the side effects are,” said Professor Fred Zepp , Director of the Center for Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine at the University of Mainz and a member of the Standing Vaccination Committee (STIKO) to the daily mirror.
The vaccines could have a longer and greater impact on the ongoing developmental process than in adults , according to Fred Zepp . The child’s organism is in an ongoing development process and is therefore particularly susceptible to disruptive influences. For example, organ development or growth could be affected. The corona vaccine for children must be tailor-made – the right doses for babies, kindergarten and school children must be determined precisely.
Infection numbers are increasing among children and adolescents
So far, there has also been a greater need to protect older people and risk groups from Covid-19 with a vaccination, since the risk of infection is significantly higher than, for example, in daycare and primary school children. They fall ill less severely and more frequently from a corona infection than adults and therefore do not drive the infection process in a particular way. However, the number of infections is also increasing among children and adolescents. In an interview with the Tagesschau, Lothar Wieler, head of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), said that the incidence in children under the age of 15 has doubled nationwide in the past four weeks. One possible reason for this is the increased testing in schools and daycare centers, but Wieler also sees the virus mutations being identified as a cause.
Until the vaccines for children and adolescents are approved, it remains to be hoped that administering the vaccines to adults can reduce the overall incidence of infection – this could also protect children.
Corona vaccination for children: should 12-year-olds be vaccinated?
At the vaccination summit on May 27th in Berlin, the federal and state governments decided that children from the age of 12 can be vaccinated from June 7th – after the prioritization of vaccinations has been lifted. Since the EU Commission has approved the vaccine from BioNTech/Pfizer for children between the ages of 12 and 15, vaccination is now also to be offered to this age group in Germany. However, there is disagreement among experts as to how useful and safe the corona vaccine is for younger people.
For example, the SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach spoke to Markus Lanz on June 1 in favor of vaccinating children to protect them from damage caused infection with the corona virus: “At the moment, we have no indications that the Vaccination in children will leave long-term damage. However, we also have evidence that children who are ill are left with permanent damage, albeit not as often.” Lauterbach also warned of another wave of infections in autumn and winter if school children were not vaccinated. According to the expert, current data and studies show that schools are an essential part of the chain of infection. For this reason, children should also be included in the vaccination sequence.
However, STIKO chairman Thomas Mertens does not share Karl Lauterbach’s opinion, as you can see below.
STIKO boss: Corona vaccination for children “no liquorice candy”
In the NDR podcast Das Coronavirus-Update , the chairman of the Standing Vaccination Commission (STIKO), Thomas Mertens, explained why the STIKO is unlikely to make a recommendation for a corona vaccination in children in the coming week . On the one hand, the Biontech study with 1,100 children is too small to even be able to record very rare side effects or vaccination reactions. “You don’t offer the children liquorice candy, it’s a medical procedure and it has to be indicated accordingly ,” said Mertens on Tuesday (01.06.) in the NDR podcast. On the other hand, there is a risk of severe Covid courses, e.g. with PIMS, negligible in children. According to Mertens, the majority of children who had a severe course or were hospitalized with Covid-19 had other serious illnesses, so-called comorbidities, beforehand. These children were therefore weak in advance and significantly more susceptible to a severe course of Covid-19 than healthy children. However, STIKO is currently working on a separate vaccination recommendation for pre-existing children.
