Prime Minister Jean Castex estimated Saturday on France Bleu Alsace that the vaccination against Covid-19 of children between 5 and 11 years old “is a necessity”.
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“The benefit of vaccination against Covid-19 for children will be modest”, said Saturday December 11 on franceinfo Christelle Gras-Le Guen, president of the French society of pediatricians, while Prime Minister Jean Castex spoke on France Bleu Alsace of a “need to vaccinate children under 11” . According to the pediatrician, if there are children for whom the benefit of vaccination is indisputable, “It is above all necessary as a priority to vaccinate adults to protect them from serious forms”.
franceinfo: Is the vaccination of children under 11 a necessity, as Jean Castex seems to assert?
Christelle Gras-Le Guen: This is obviously the question that arises after we have ruled on the issue of children with chronic diseases. We have identified children for whom there was an indisputable benefit in protecting them from severe forms of Covid. The question of other children is quite different insofar as, as Mr. Castex rightly said, they present forms of the disease which are benign in the vast majority of cases and that for a very serious disease, we absolutely wants to be sure that the vaccine will have no side effects. We have a level of requirement for the safety of this vaccine which is even higher than usual given the low burden of the disease in children.
How can you be sure that there is no risk, specifically for children?
For that, we have planned to observe what is happening on the North American continent where the burden of the disease is more important and where the decisions to vaccinate the children were taken at the beginning of November. The Americans are in the process of administering the second dose of the vaccine in this age group and so we are waiting to see if there are any side effects that appear. However, the second dose program is just starting in the United States and therefore we do not have this data to date.
What is the point of wanting, or at least of affirming the need to vaccinate children under 11? Is this part of the political game where there is really a medical interest?
The interest is to limit contagiousness. Limit the circulation of the virus by vaccinating young children, why not? But it is above all necessary as a priority to vaccinate adults to protect them from serious forms. The benefit of vaccination for children will be modest given the weight of the disease, which is also so in this age group.