Crossing the Rubicon: A fine line between waiting and vaccinating adolescents against COVID-19

Abstract

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Emerging evidence on Omicron (B.1.1.529) SARS‐CoV‐2 variant

“…The data show that vaccines do protect against severe death and disease, and therefore urgent need is to vaccinate as many people as possible, particularly those in high‐risk groups, with two doses of vaccines. 82 , 83 With such a high rate of transmission, even a small number of patients' hospitalization can put a huge strain on available resources, both for testing and for providing care to those in need. As a result, measures to slow transmission through coordinated public health strategies must be designed and executed ahead of time, minimizing the impact of such interventions on livelihoods.…”

Increased incidence of COVID‐19 in younger patients (May–July 2021)—An argument for extending vaccination?

“…To the Editor, The decision on whether or not to vaccinate young children against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is causing significant controversy in the UK. Ladhani 1 outlines the pros and cons of vaccinating school children, and we agree that it is not an easy decision. However, with a potentially difficult winter ahead, including the backlog of non-COVID-19 medical cases to care for and the return of seasonal respiratory viruses in the absence of COVID-19 restrictions, 2 expanding vaccine coverage for both influenza and COVID-19, would seem prudent.…”

Pediatric COVID-19: Immunopathogenesis, Transmission and Prevention

“…Based on these studies, mRNA and inactivated COVID-19 vaccines have been approved for emergency use in adolescents by the regulatory authorities of several countries, including the US, Israel, the UK and China, and by the European Medicine Agency; vaccination of this population is being rolled out in an increasing number of countries. Notably, the UK recently decided to restrict vaccination to adolescents who are at risk of severe COVID-19 and to those who are household contacts of immunosuppressed patients (https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ jcvi-issues-advice-on-COVID-19-vaccination-of-children-and-young-people, accessed on 31 July 2021) As for any vaccine in any target population, the decision to recommend and implement COVID-19 vaccination of adolescents and younger children is based on benefit-risk analyses [120][121][122][123]. Although most children remain asymptomatic, 6% of children are hospitalized; 13% of those hospitalized meet the criteria for severe disease with a fatality rate of 1%, while others suffer from prolonged symptoms (long COVID) and could, therefore, benefit from vaccination [124].…”