Should children be vaccinated against COVID-19?

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Petra Zimmermann1,2,3, Laure F Pittet3,4,5, Adam Finn6,7

  • 1Faculty of Science and Medicine, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland petra.zimmermann@unifr.ch.

Archives of Disease in Childhood
|November 4, 2021
PubMed

Insights

The COVID-19 vaccine

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric infectious diseases and public health policy.
  • Epidemiology of viral respiratory illnesses in pediatric populations.

Background:

  • The debate on vaccinating children under 12 against COVID-19 is ongoing.
  • Assessing the risk-benefit balance for pediatric COVID-19 vaccination is complex due to low acute disease risk and uncertainties regarding vaccine and disease harms.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To outline key considerations for COVID-19 vaccine policy decisions in children under 12.
  • To highlight the complexities involved in determining the necessity of pediatric COVID-19 vaccination.

Main Methods:

  • This study is a review of existing literature and policy considerations.
  • Analysis of arguments for and against pediatric vaccination, including long-term consequences and population-level factors.

Main Results:

  • Key arguments for vaccinating children include protection against long-term COVID-19 consequences.
  • Population-level factors such as reduced transmission, school continuity, and quarantine avoidance are also important considerations.
  • Emerging variants necessitate ongoing risk-benefit re-evaluation.

Conclusions:

  • The decision to vaccinate children under 12 against COVID-19 involves intricate risk-benefit analyses.
  • Policy decisions require continuous re-evaluation due to evolving scientific understanding and the emergence of new variants.

Keywords:
COVID-19child healthcommunicable diseasesepidemiologyethics

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