The European branch of the organization advocates strengthening testing in schools and considering vaccination of school children.
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Faced with the rebound of the Covid-19 pandemic in Europe, the WHO called on Tuesday, December 7 to better protect children, currently the age group most affected by the virus. To avoid further class closures and the return of distance education, the European branch of the organization advises to strengthen testing in schools and consider vaccination of school children.
“The use of masks and ventilation, along with regular testing, should be the norm in all primary schools and childhood immunizations should be discussed and considered nationally.”, said its director Hans Kluge at an online press conference. According to the WHO, cases are currently increasing in all age categories, “with the highest rates currently observed among 5-14 year olds”. “It is not uncommon today to see incidences two to three times higher in young children than in the total population”, emphasized Hans Kluge.
As for compulsory vaccination, decided or envisaged by certain countries, it must remain a recourse of “absolute last resort, only when all possible options to increase the vaccination rate have been exhausted”, estimates WHO Europe. The organization has again expressed its concern over the new Omicron variant, but called upon to combat the current dominant variant, the Delta for “a victory tomorrow against Omicron”.