Children should be administered Covid vaccine

Dr M.D. Ravi (MD, DCH)
Professor/Pediatrics, JSS Medical College, Mysuru

Covid-19 pandemic has affected adults and children across the globe. In the first wave, more adults were affected than children, however the number of affected children progressively increased in subsequent waves.

Though a majority of affected children had mild disease or had no problems at all, some children had a bad course with involvement of various organs. More importantly , some children developed a major problem called MISc ( Multi system Inflammatory Syndrome in children) which can damage lungs, heart etc.

The problem also is that this closely mimics another condition called Kawasaki disease. Treatment for MISc is difficult and expensive. Also it can coexist with Dengue, which is relatively common, -and this combination increases the chances of death by almost three times. In India, many hospitals had MIS-C cases coinciding with the past two Covid-19 waves, most of them about two to six weeks after each Covid-19 wave.

There are vaccines available for children now. Initially the vaccines were for children above 15 years, then for those above 12 years. 2 vaccines have been given by DCGI (Drug Controller General of India) for younger children, Covaxin for 6-12 years and Corbevax for 5-12 years.

These vaccines have been given to adults and children already and no major problems have been seen. There has also been a decrease in the number of MISc after the introduction of these vaccines in older children.

The Indian Academy of Pediatrics has endorsed the decision of the Govt of India to roll out vaccines for younger children. Finally, the risks associated with the disease are far higher than vaccine related risks, so vaccination for younger children, when the roll out happens, is strongly recommended.