Vaccinate healthy child against corona? Which speaks against the Stiko recommendation

Children from the age of 12 can theoretically be vaccinated against corona. However, Stiko does not recommend this. What does that mean?

Dortmund – It is an important guide for doctors: The Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko) has become more important for patients again, especially during the Corona crisis. For the time being, the Stiko will probably not make a recommendation for children to be vaccinated against Corona, as reported by RUHR24 *. But how much weight does this recommendation have? And can parents still have their child vaccinated?

Corona vaccination for children: Stiko does not make a recommendation at first

According to a preliminary draft, the Stiko is likely to recommend that only children and adolescents with certain pre-existing conditions should be vaccinated. This affects the age groups between 12 and 17 years. In the draft, which is available to the German Press Agency (dpa) , about a dozen clinical pictures are named that represent an increased risk of a severe course of Covid-19.

These include obesity, chronic lung diseases with impaired lung function and chronic kidney failure. The Stiko also recommends a vaccination against Corona for children who live in the vicinity of other people who are at high risk. This applies in particular to people who cannot be vaccinated themselves because of certain diseases. Can a healthy child be vaccinated against Corona * despite this recommendation?

Vaccinate children against corona: A lack of Stiko recommendation is not a prohibition

According to the Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn (CDU), a corona vaccination for children is also possible without a recommendation from Stiko. It is then an individual decision of the parents and doctors, as the editorial network Germany (RND) reports. The draft recommendation also states that the spades should be possible “after medical advice and if the child or adolescent or the custodian or guardian has individual wishes and risk acceptance”.

But why exactly has the Stiko not yet made a general vaccination recommendation for children? The experts justify the decision with gaps in knowledge about the safety of the vaccine in the age group. Reference was made to the small number of vaccinated subjects and a short follow-up period. In addition, according to experts, healthy children who are infected with corona have a very low risk of becoming seriously ill. The benefit of the vaccination may not outweigh the risk (more current news on the coronavirus in NRW at RUHR24 *).

Study of side effects for children after the corona vaccination

What side effects have children experienced so far? Overall, the authors of a study in the New England Journal of Medicine rate the vaccination for children as being well tolerated. The vaccination reactions were mostly mild to moderate.

As in other age groups, the children most frequently complained of pain at the injection site (79 to 86 percent of children), tiredness (60 to 66 percent) and headache (55 to 65 percent). These side effects were also found in another study on the corona vaccination * in adults. About 20 percent of the children developed a fever after the second vaccination.

In most cases, these symptoms disappear within a few days. There were no serious adverse effects such as thrombosis or anaphylactic shock in connection with the vaccination in children. However, the small total number of 1131 vaccinated people allows only few conclusions about rare side effects.

Vaccinate healthy child against corona? Which speaks against the Stiko recommendation

Is vaccination necessary at all in healthy children? “From a parent’s perspective, my child would be vaccinated. Clear case. I don’t want this risk, ”said Charité virologist Christian Drosten to the Swiss online magazine Republik . He argues with long-term consequences such as loss of smell and taste and the risk of the so-called pediatric multisystem inflammation syndrome. This is a serious illness weeks after the infection, but it has so far been considered rare and easily treatable.

Long-term consequences (Long Covid / Post Covid) are more likely to affect young people than small children. Such longer-lasting restrictions also occur with other viral infections such as glandular fever. In addition, children are said to be more susceptible to infection by a corona mutant *.

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Corona: What is the significance of the Stiko recommendation?

What Stiko recommends after processing scientific data is generally considered to be the medical standard in Germany. Your judgment is important for questions of liability and the assumption of costs by the statutory health insurance companies. With the corona vaccination campaign, both are already regulated by the federal government.

In principle, vaccination (for example in children) is also possible without a Stiko recommendation. However, this contradicts “a practice that has always been established,” said the German Society for General Medicine and Family Medicine recently. But the recommendation would not only be circumvented for child vaccinations: the corona vaccines from Astrazenca and Johnson & Johnson are currently approved for all age groups. Here volunteers can also get vaccinated and so, depending on the age group, not follow the recommendations of the Stiko. * RUHR24 is part of the IPPEN.MEDIA editorial network.

List of rubric lists: © Rolf Vennenbernd / dpa, Mohssen Assanimoghaddam / dpa; Collage: RUHR24