The World Health Organization says healthy children and adolescents probably don’t need a covid vaccine
The World Health Organization (WHO) reviewed its covid vaccine recommendations and suggested that healthy children and adolescents may not need a vaccine.
In guidance released Tuesday, the global health agency considered healthy children and adolescents to be “low priority” for Covid injections.
He said the public health impact of vaccinating healthy children and adolescents is “far less than the established benefits of traditional core vaccines for children” such as measles and polio.
The WHO urged countries to consider the fact that young people are unlikely to get seriously ill from covid before recommending vaccination.
Meanwhile, the WHO is considering adding obesity drugs to its list of ‘essential’ medicines.
About 79 percent of American children have completed their primary series of covid vaccines, while 20 percent have received an updated (bivalent) booster dose.
The WHO also called for urgent efforts to catch up on routine vaccinations lost during the pandemic.
He said Covid vaccines and boosters were safe for all ages, but the guidelines took into account other factors such as cost-effectiveness.
These are defined as older adults and children with immunocompromised conditions, they are recommended to receive a booster dose between six and 12 months after their last vaccination.
Chair of the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE), Dr. Hanna Nohynek, saying: “Countries should consider their specific context when deciding whether to continue to vaccinate low-risk groups, such as healthy children and adolescents, without compromising the routine vaccinations that are so crucial to the health and well-being of this age group.”
The committee also called for urgent efforts to catch up on routine vaccinations missed during the pandemic and warned of an increase in vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported in November that a record nearly 40 million children did not receive the measles vaccine in 2021.
Vaccination coverage against measles, one of the most contagious but entirely preventable human viruses, has been steadily declining since the start of the covid pandemic.
Misinformation related to covid vaccines has also led many parents to reject regular childhood vaccines, even though immunizations are the most effective way to protect children against measles.
Last month, the CDC also officially added Covid vaccines to the list of routine vaccinations for children and adults.
He put on the calendar a primary series of two or three doses of the Covid vaccine and a booster for people over 19 years of age, and the same for children over six months.
Officials said the move would “normalise” the vaccine and “send a powerful message” that everyone over the age of six should keep up with their Covid vaccinations.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) implemented the measure after independent vaccine advisers proposed the changes.
It means that the shot is in the same category as vaccines for diseases like polio, measles, and hepatitis B.
Children are significantly less likely to die from Covid than any other age group. Less than one percent of all deaths since the start of the pandemic have been under the age of 18.
Meanwhile, Covid has been the third leading cause of death in the general population.
Early last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned that young men who had received the mRNA vaccines, either the Pfizer or Moderna shot, were at increased risk of heart inflammation.
The agency warned that myocarditis occurred most often in men over the age of 16 within seven days of receiving the injection.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is considering changing the release of the Covid vaccine to an annual schedule similar to the flu shot schedule.