AMMAN — Vaccinating children is a common practice all over
the world. Children get vaccinated against measles, mumps, polio, diphtheria,
and multiple types of meningitis and pertussis infections less than three
months after their birth. But why aren’t they getting vaccinated against
COVID-19?
اضافة اعلان
Jordan, like many countries other countries around the
world, gave healthcare workers, adults, and the elderly priority to get
vaccinated against
COVID-19.
According to a report shared by the
Ministry of Health discussing the epidemiological situation in the Kingdom, out of 494 total
COVID-19 cases recorded on Friday, seven cases involved children ages zero to
five, nine cases involved children aged six to nine, and 41 cases were of
children aged 10 to 18, serving as only 13 percent of the total cases recorded
that day.
Mohannad Al-Nsour, executive director of the Eastern
Mediterranean Public Health Network (EMPHNET) and member of the National
Epidemiological Committee, said that the World Health Organization (WHO)
divided COVID-19 patients into different age groups, and children were the age
group least likely to be affected severely by the virus worldwide.
“Children are least likely to get the virus in comparison to
an elder who has chronic diseases for example,” Nsour said. “And even if they
did, their severity rate is much less, and so is the possibility of them
getting hospitalized. Infection in children is always mild or asymptomatic,
polar to the older age groups given priority in vaccination campaigns.”
Research supports Nsour’s explanation: A study conducted in
seven countries with high rates of COVID-19 published in Lancet Medical Journal
indicated that less than two out of one million children died because of the
virus during the pandemic.
In addition, the study showed that 7 percent of children
younger than 18 years of age with severe symptoms required intensive care units
(ICU), whereas 53 percent of adults who had severe symptoms required ICU.
Nsour said several countries in the world are “stocking and
monopolizing” vaccines, and have already started to vaccinate children ages 12
and younger, instead of providing vaccines to health workers in less wealthy
countries, for example.
“Nationalization of the vaccines is a real concept now.
Major countries are stocking excess amounts of the vaccine and have started to
provide it to their children, while other countries are struggling to provide
it to elders and health sector workers,” he explained. “The world will never
get herd immunity unless we all cooperate.”
Nsour added that some scientists and medical workers consider
vaccinating healthy children instead of elders “unethical”, and that children
with chronic diseases are also given priority to get the vaccine.
Ayeda Masandeh, a 32-year-old mother of two children, said
that she believes that the scenario should be “completely the opposite” because
elders are most likely to stay at home engaging with their close family
members, while children have to go out with their parents and increase their
possibility of catching the virus.
“Children are a lot harder to control, most of them can’t
commit to wearing a face mask, and keep touching their surrounding environment
which is surely not sanitized,” she said, arguing children should be
prioritized for the shots. “Even if an elder left the house, they would still
commit and wear a face mask, and regularly sanitize their hands.”
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