Debate emerges over Covid vaccines for children

A debate has emerged over how critical it is for children to be immunised against Covid-19.

The rollout of vaccines world-wide has prioritised older people, and others over 16 years old or at risk because of their health or occupation.

But child advocates said governments should prioritise vulnerable children for a Covid-19 vaccine.

In New Zealand, children would not be allowed the Pfizer/BioNTech jab and one immunisation expert said it was the right move.

According to the World Health Organisation, children fared better than adults against Covid-19.

This was because the coronavirus data so far had shown that children under 16 years old had a substantially lower risk of infection than older people.

Experts said children between the ages of 12 and 18 had a higher risk of getting infected with the coronavirus than those younger.

Dr Robert Wachter, Medicine Department Chair at the University of California, said chances for both groups of children getting severely sick and dying were very low.

But they were not zero, and some children had suffered 'long-haul' Covid-19 health problems, Wachter said.

Experts also agreed this made the development of vaccines for younger children a unique effort.

Drugmakers Johnson & Johnson, Moderna and the Pfizer/BioNTech partnership were all making fast progress in vaccine trials for children aged 12 to 15.

Cure Kids New Zealand welcomed the trials and urged the government to vaccinate family members of vulnerable children at the same time as essential workers.

As the largest funder of child health research outside the government, Cure Kids' director, Frances Benge, said they understood first-hand the risks children faced.

Benge said 40,000 children per year were admitted to hospitals for completely preventable health issues.

And this vulnerability meant that children would be hugely susceptible to the impact of Covid-19, she said.

"And we believe that to continue to expose these vulnerable children to further risk of Covid would be really negligent."

Last year, Cure Kids invested almost $US6.5 million into research grants with a specific focus on "diseases of inequity".

Earlier this month, Benge wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

In the letter, she referenced various health inequalities that exist among the country's most vulnerable children including Māori and Pasifika.

"So, we're talking about hospitalisation rates for respiratory conditions, skin infections, oral health and all of these areas reveal a very high degree of inequality amongst children in diverse economic, socio-economic groups."

But the Head of New Zealand's Immunisation Advisory Centre, Dr Nikki Turner, said children were not on the list for vaccines for very good reasons.

Turner said those calling for children under the age of 16 to be vaccinated against Covid-19 should first look at what the science was telling them.

"If we were in a country where there was a lot of Covid in the community, then one could consider emergency usage even though there's no data.

"But because there's no Covid in the New Zealand community, it would not be ethically right to give this vaccine to children when there is not yet the clinical data on its safety and effectiveness."

Turner said if New Zealand ran with an unlicensed vaccine, the risk of losing community confidence in the vaccination program was "enormous".

At the moment ,there's a lot of suspicion around Covid vaccines in the Māori and Pasifika communities, she said.

"I think if we rushed ahead before we had good clinical data, our communities would accuse us of rushing ahead.

"We've got to get it right and have the confidence of our Māori and Pasifika communities, that we're doing the safe and right thing with vaccines and not rushing through with them. And we have no data."

The UN Children's Fund agreed with Turner. UNICEF's Pacific head, Sheldon Yett, said children were not eligible for vaccinations because no vaccine had yet been approved for those under 16.

"We know that the vaccine is not yet authorised for children so it's important that it goes through the necessary testing before it can be given to children.

"So, the vaccines are going to adults, not to children," Yett said.

But Cure Kids said it would continue to push for the government to prioritise vaccinations for 'New Zealand's already health-compromised children'.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister's Office acknowledged receiving the letter from Cure Kids.

It advised the group that the letter had been referred to the Covid-19 Response Minister, Chris Hipkins.

Cure Kids said it looked forward to receiving a response from the ministry.