Why should children be vaccinated against Covid-19?
Should children be vaccinated against Covid-19 or not?
On 2 March 2021, a nurse prepares to administer a dose of the AstraZeneca/Oxford COVID-19 vaccine at Accra's Ridge Hospital, as Ghana rolls out its national COVID-19 vaccination campaign. Health workers, seniors and people with underlying conditions are prioritized for vaccination. As the global rollout of COVAX vaccines accelerates, the first COVID-19 vaccination campaigns in the African Region using COVAX doses began 1 March 2021 in Ghana and Côte D'Ivoire. These campaigns are the among the first to use doses provided by COVAX. This is an historic step towards ensuring equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines worldwide. COVAX, the vaccines pillar of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, is co-led by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and WHO working in partnership with developed and developing country vaccine manufacturers, UNICEF, the World Bank, and others. It is the only global initiative that is working with governments and manufacturers to ensure COVID-19 vaccines are available worldwide to both higher-income and lower-income countries.
Since the outbreak of coronavirus, questions such as how to combat it with the right medication, cost of vaccines, and most importantly, how to win the trust of people to believe the effectiveness of vaccines have been around. But now more than ever, the question of ‘the certainty of children’s immunity to the virus’ is topical given the number of casualties of persons under eighteen years of age.
An epidemiologist in London’s School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Professor John Edmunds thinks all children from the age of 11 should be vaccinated. Though uncertain of the side effects, given children’s adverseness to the disease, it’s necessary if the vaccine is ascertained safe rather than leave the children to fall sick naturally.
Given that 25 per cent under 18 children have been affected in the UK so far and naturally might spread to other older family members and then neighbours. It is right to think of getting them vaccinated against the virus.
A member of SAGE- a group that provides emergency scientific and technical advice to the government in the UK, the professor believes that it is important to get the consent of the children first though.
Already countries like America and Israel have started vaccination and the UK is about to fall in line, so the next question is, will Ghana be looking into including children for vaccination?
By Jamila Abdul Wahab Follow on Twitter @activetvgh
