“It is the day we have been waiting for for a long time. The road is still long, but we finally have the vaccine“. With these words the Health Minister Roberto Speranza commented thestart of the vaccination campaign anti-Covid inaugurated at Spallanzani in Rome last December 27. According to the guidelines established by the Strategic Plan for COVID-19 vaccination in this first phase approximately 470 thousand doses will be distributed every week of vaccino Pfizer-Biontech, reserved for those that have been deemed the most exposed categories, namely health and social health workers as well as residents and staff of the RSA.
The campaign will continue in the following months giving priority to elderly and people with chronic diseases until it extends to all the population. With one exception.
Children and boys, in fact, they would be at the moment excluded from the vaccination plan.
“Comirnaty (Pfizer / Bionthec) the first vaccine approved by EMA (European Medicine Agency) it is not currently recommended for children under the age of 16. The European Agency, as well as other international agencies, await further studies in order to authorize vaccination on the pediatric population. ” So we read between FAQ published on Government site dedicated to anti-Covid vaccination 19 (info.vaccinicovid.gov.it).
During a session of the 15th edition of the Risk Management Forum in Health, he was also Gianni Rezza, Director General of Prevention of the Ministry of Health, to announce the decision, underlining that, at least in the early stages, no vaccination would be provided for children.
Why this choice and what will it change in the future? We asked the Dr. Elena Bozzola, National Secretary of the Italian Society of Pediatrics.
“Children are currently not part of the vaccination plan because Clinical trials on the under-16 population have not yet been conducted. In fact, the legislation provides that vaccines, before being placed on the market, after the pre-clinical phase, undergo 3 processes in which they are tested on the reference target and, again according to the regulations, trials are started on the adult population. The purpose is twofold: to evaluate the effectiveness of the vaccine but also and above all its safety. Experimentation is therefore also necessary on children because theirs immune response it can be different from that of an adult ».
As the president of the Superior Health Council had already pointed out in recent weeks Franco Locatellifurthermore i children are not included in the vaccination plan at the moment because they are not considered a risk category.
“Luckily the impact of the virus is less on children compared to adults – Dr. Bozzola confirms – this does not mean, of course, that we should let our guard down or even deny that there are still serious cases even among the little ones but it is certainly a priority to protect the elderly and adults with diseases compared to children. What is right to underline is that by vaccinating the elderly and adults, indirectly children are also protected because the vaccine limits the spread of the virus “.
Regarding the timings, to have a safe vaccine even for children, it is possible to do forecasts?
“To date we know that experiments are also starting in America for adolescents: Pfizer is testing the vaccine on children and young people between 12 and 15 years and Moderna is also moving in this direction – emphasizes Bozzola – If the trials give good answers in terms of safety, yes it will proceed with the experimentation on the 6-12 year range and, subsequently, 2-6 years. Based on the timing required for the experimentation on adults, it is even thought that by the end of 2021 a vaccine may also be available for children ».
At that point it will be anyway It is useful to vaccinate children against Coronavirus?
«Of course – replies Doctor Bozzola – when there will be a safe vaccine for children we pediatricians will undoubtedly recommend doing this».
Different speech instead regarding the availability of a vaccine anti-Covid per The smallest, or i children under two years old, for which it will take more time . “At the moment the prospect that is emerging is that of vaccinating children from the age of two – concludes the National Secretary of the Italian Society of Pediatrics – These vaccines in fact need a good immune response and we know that under this range of age this response can be deficient and incomplete ».
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