Green light for the Pfizer BioNTech anti-Covid vaccine on Italian adolescents aged 12 to 15. It came from Ema, who thus dissolved one of the most pressing reservations of recent weeks. So Italy follows the line of the United States, after the Fda (Food and Drug Administration, a US government body that deals with the regulation of food and pharmaceutical products) last May 10 said yes to the Pfizer vaccine on children. And after the arrival of Ema’s Italian ok, Aifa will receive the authorization – within a couple of days – because there is no other preferential indication. Thus it will be possible to complete the cycle on 8.5 million Italian adolescents in the 12-15 age group.
However, some doubts remain in the minds of parents, questions to be answered: are anti-Covid vaccines good or bad for children? Can the benefit they bring outweigh any side effects? And in adolescents? What impact, if any, does the Covid vaccine have on their growth? Doubts that do not affect the virologist Giovanni Maga, director of the Cnr of Pavia: “Vaccines are welcome – he underlines – spcie in schools, because there is a great need”
How to vaccinate children and young people. The tools for vaccinating the youngest, therefore, are now available. “Until yesterday, the only anti-Covid vaccine approved in Canada and the United States for the 13-15 age group was, in fact, Pfizer – explains Maga – the US pharmaceutical company conducted a clinical study on 2,260 children between 12 and 15 years, a study that demonstrated 100% effectiveness: 18 cases of infection were detected among unvaccinated minors and zero cases in the others. What does this result prove? First of all, kids respond very well to the vaccine at that age. Indeed, the children have an even more intense response ».
On the basis of these data, the FDA and Canada had authorized the use of Pfizer also on children under 12-15 years of age. And Ema (European Medicines Agency) has now given its approval for use in Europe.
And the little ones? But it is the little ones who worry. Because the combination of “Covid infection-vaccine that eliminates it” is not very clear to them. For this, Maga points out, “both Pfizer and Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson are launching studies on the impact of their respective vaccines in children from 6 months to 12 years old”. He warned: “The data will not be available before the autumn, however this shows that even the manufacturers of approved vaccines are moving to verify their effectiveness and how to use them. While for 15 to 20 year olds, Pfizer has already said yes. The vaccination campaign now goes on on the most fragile, but then it will also extend to the latter ».
Reactions to the vaccine. The starting point, however, whether it is small or older children, or adolescents, is to understand how their body reacts to the vaccine. And here Maga makes a premise: «When they are born, for the first six months the children have antibodies from their mother. So, if the mother has already faced Covid, the unborn babies will also have antibodies. Importantly, if a woman contracts the virus during pregnancy, there is a higher risk of serious illness for both her and her child. However, if vaccinated, the antibodies pass to the child, who is thus protected. ‘ After six months of life, the immune system begins to learn to develop, and this process of change lasts up to 12 years of age. This means, the virologist specifies, that “the system learns to recognize pathogens and to create defenses and since it is very active and capable, this is why in children and adolescents the response to vaccines is stronger and more ready”.
The unknown of side effects. The possible occurrence of vaccine side effects is the dominant thinking in the parents’ mind. In this case it is necessary to distinguish according to age. «In children over the age of 12 the side effects are completely comparable to those of mild entity seen in adults – assures Maga – some lines of fever and pain at the injection site. Compared to the fact that on different age groups – children, adolescents and young people – the anti-Covid vaccine can affect differently, it should be noted that the formulation to be inoculated to children under 5 years can be different. But this aspect is still under study. From the age of 15, on the other hand, vaccination is similar to that of an adult. As for the ability to react, in children and adolescents it is possible that it is more intense, but it is also an age in which it is more tolerable: there are fewer lines of fever than the older ones. How do the little ones react? They have a different perception of danger, of discomfort, than adults. Even if they still feel it. Being organisms also very active and robust in terms of resilience, it is obvious that they react better ».
What to do if the baby has post-vaccine symptoms. Cold blood, accompanied by the knowledge that these are transient symptoms. These are the two ingredients necessary to solve any problems that may arise in children after the anti-Covid injection. «The situation must be faced with the use of drugs approved for the age of the child – Maga specifies – for the very young analgesics and antipyretics in drops; from 16 years upwards tachipirina 500. In any case, for both, the symptoms have a shorter duration than in adults ».
“No danger.” In essence, therefore, we can exclude dangers. «In all pediatric vaccinations in use, both compulsory and voluntary, there is no danger. Indeed, vaccination serves precisely to accelerate the individual defense system to act as a barrier to viruses “, assures the expert. But isn’t there the risk of overloading children with vaccines? «This hypothesis must be discarded immediately – he adds – because anything that comes into contact with our body from the outside is recognized as an antigen (a molecule capable of being recognized by the immune system as foreign or potentially dangerous). Babies are exposed to millions of antigens every day. While with vaccines their number is very low: on average 150. Potentially, a child’s immune system would have the ability to react to 10,000 vaccines and billions of antigens ”.
Clinical studies. But there is still something to refine before moving on to under 12 administration. Clinical trials are moving in this direction, studies that Pfizer has started, closely followed by other pharmaceutical companies. “What they absolutely must ascertain, and this is why the impact of vaccines is being examined, concerns any adverse reactions of the under 12s. Precisely because the immune system of the very young is more reactive, it can generate different reactions: a child does not have the organism of adults. While from 18 years up – continues Maga – the discourse changes. In some Italian regions children are already being vaccinated, including a quota of medical students between 20 and 25 years old. There are no elements that make us suspect particular problems ».
Times to be respected. Finally, on the time needed to get to the first vaccinations, the virologist concludes: “Given Ema’s authorization, it will be possible to start injecting the anti-Covid vaccine on children and adolescents at different times: between 12 and 15 years already in the summer, for the under 12s, if the deadlines for clinical studies are respected, we will go to next winter. And I think that we must act directly in schools, because in this way we would be able to guarantee the necessary capillarity and solve the problem. Since the students are all on site, we could intervene quickly and well ».
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