As US races to vaccinate children against Covid-19, some countries backtrack

In Mexico, the president says he will not be held hostage by vaccine makers and has no plans to vaccinate under-18s except those at risk. In many parts of Africa, the rollout is so slow that vaccinating children is a distant ambition. Some governments are waiting to see how the campaign plays out in the US before proceeding.

The US, where children between the ages of 5 and 11 are getting shots for the first time this month, is not alone: ​​countries such as Colombia, Argentina and China are vaccinating children under the age of 3.

The case for vaccinating older people and those with underlying health problems has always been clear: testing and real-life experience show recipients as having significant protection from catching the disease and especially from being hospitalized and dying from it.

For children, who rarely suffer serious illness from COVID-19, benefits accrue primarily – though not exclusively – to others: older people with whom they come into contact while infected and wider population. Advocates of vaccinating children also say it will help restore some normalcy in schools and ease quarantines.

Many governments have now decided that the upside—reducing the slight exposure to so-called long-lived COVID-19 and other consequences of the disease in children, and stopping the spread of the virus in the population—far outweighs the risk of rare side effects.

In Colombia, 253 children—of which 172 children aged 12 and under—have died of Covid-19 in a population of 50 million, according to government figures. “It’s not a number that is irrelevant,” Health Minister Fernando Ruiz said, adding that Colombia vaccinates children against far less dangerous diseases than COVID-19.

Marcela Guerrero, 37, said she didn’t think twice when she heard Colombian officials were vaccinating children at a concert in the capital, Bogota. “In sport it is the health of our children, and the most important thing is that they are safe,” said Ms Guerrero, as her 5-year-old boy, Christopher, waited for his shot.

The US this month expanded its vaccine campaign to children 5 and older, after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended the use of a vaccine made by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE in children ages 5 to 11. These children will be given two shots three weeks apart, with one-third the dose of the vaccine given to adolescents and adults.

In doing so, America has overtaken the countries of Europe in the matter of vaccinating children. Across Europe, only children 12 years of age and older can be vaccinated – although doctors sometimes use their discretion to vaccinate young children at risk.

The UK recommended that most children aged 12 to 15 get a single dose of the Pfizer vaccine – underlining how different jurisdictions are giving different dosing instructions. After initially opposing the move, government advisers decided that young teens face other health risks such as missing school due to illness. In the European Union, people over 12 have access to Pfizer or Moderna Inc. There are two shots of vaccines.

Australia and New Zealand have also stopped approval for young children. Australia’s chief medical officer, Paul Kelly, said on Tuesday that Australia would await real-world experience from the US before vaccinating young children. Clinical trials for that age group in the US were, “I must say, rather small,” he said.

According to government statistics, Japan has authorized shots for ages 12 and older, and more than 60% of children ages 12 to 19 are fully vaccinated. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said vaccination of children ages 5 to 11 would begin after regulators review Pfizer’s application for that age group, which was filed earlier that day.

In Israel, which has overtaken the world in offering Pfizer vaccines to its adult and adolescent populations, the issue of under-12 vaccinations has become divisive.

The country waited until the US approved vaccinating children before starting professional discussions that would largely determine government policy. Still, public-health officials and their civic advisors have faced threats and humiliation from some Israeli parents afraid to vaccinate their children.

Dr Gili Regev-Yochay, committee advisor and director of the Infectious Disease Epidemiology Unit at Sheba Medical Center, said some members of the government’s advisory committee felt they could not speak freely without fear of reprisal. On Wednesday, the committee voted overwhelmingly in favor of vaccinating young children.

As of June, Chinese authorities had approved the emergency use of vaccines made by Sinopharm and Sinovac Biotech Ltd for children aged 3 to 17. Since then, city and provincial governments have begun introducing programs for that age group. In late October, Beijing began vaccinating children between the ages of 3 and 11.

The Communist Party-run newspaper Global Times cited Chinese vaccine experts as saying that vaccinating children over the age of 3 is crucial for the country to reach herd immunity.

In Colombia and Argentina, children under the age of 3 are also being immunized with Chinese vaccines. Both countries have used sugar and other vaccines to combat the disease.

Three studies provided by Colombia’s Ministry of Health to The Wall Street Journal said the Sinovac vaccine was safe and that side effects such as dizziness, chest discomfort and rashes were not serious. Officials said they also rely on results from Chile, where the same vaccine is being used on children 6 and older.

Health Minister Mr Ruiz said the purpose of the authorization to give the Sinovac vaccine to young children was to prevent transmission as more schools reopened.

“It is absolutely essential that children return to classrooms because of the effects we are seeing, such as obesity, mental health problems in children, loneliness syndrome, even abuse in families,” he said.

In Cuba, children under the age of 2 are receiving a shot from a vaccine made on the island. Venezuela, which has introduced Cuban and Chinese vaccines for older Venezuelans, also began vaccinating children under the age of 2 on Monday.

In Argentina, the health minister, Carla Vizotti, announced in early October the use of China’s Sinoform vaccine for children 3 to 11, saying it “is one of the safest vaccines.”

There, critics from the medical community say officials haven’t provided enough information about the approval process. “There is an increasing number of parents who refuse vaccination with Sinoform,” said Roberto Debag, president of the Latin American Pediatric Infectious Disease Society in Buenos Aires. Argentine health officials did not return calls seeking comment.

Russia has not yet authorized the use of the vaccine for under-18s. Russian health officials said on Wednesday that a study on the use of the Kovid-19 vaccine for adolescents has been completed and the results are being analyzed.

Mexico has been more strict, saying it has no plans to vaccinate anyone under the age of 18, other than an estimated one million minors with pre-existing conditions such as diabetes or asthma. Government health officials argue that since minors do not usually get severe cases of COVID-19, they do not need protection from the vaccine.

President Andres Manuel López Obrador has said drug companies want to scare countries into buying more vaccines for children or for the third dose. “We’re not going to be hostage to it,” he said.

Parents in Mexico have sued the government for allowing their children to be vaccinated. A federal judge in October ordered the government to vaccinate minors, saying the policy violated Mexico’s constitution by discriminating against adolescents and children by blocking access to a vaccine available to other age groups. The government has appealed against the decision.

According to the Ministry of Health, Mexico has officially recorded 1,110 deaths from Covid-19 among people aged 19 and younger.

Most countries in sub-Saharan Africa have little choice but to vaccinate children because their rollout is so slow. About 6.3% of Africans are fully vaccinated. Most governments are still struggling to get their most vulnerable citizens to get the shot, with some opening up vaccination to those under the age of 18.

Some of the exceptions are South Africa, which began vaccinating at age 12 with a single dose of the Pfizer vaccine on October 20, and Guinea, which said it would begin vaccinating teenagers this week. Unusually, in South Africa, parental permission is not required for teenagers to get vaccinated.