Should we vaccinate children against COVID-19? We asked 5 experts

By Phoebe Roth, The Conversation

Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) recently announced provisional approval for the Pfizer vaccine to be used in 12-15-year-olds.

Last month, the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) has advised that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children aged 12-15, those who live in remote communities, and those with underlying medical conditions should be prioritised to receive the jab.

With COVID vaccination for kids being such a hot topic, we asked five experts whether we should vaccinate children in Australia against COVID-19.

Four out of five experts said yes

Here are their detailed responses:


If you have a “yes or no” health question you’d like posed to Five Experts, email your suggestion to: phoebe.roth@theconversation.edu.au.


Disclosures:

Asha Bowen is co-chair of the Australian and New Zealand Paediatric Infectious Diseases (ANZPID) group of the Australasian Society of Infectious Diseases. She receives research funding from NHMRC.

Catherine Bennett has received NHMRC and MRFF funding, and is an independent expert on the AstraZeneca advisory board.

Julian Savulescu receives funding from the Wellcome Trust. This work was supported by the UKRI/AHRC funded UK Ethics Accelerator project, grant number AH/V013947/1.

Margie Danchin is a member of ATAGI’s working group on vaccine safety, evaluation, monitoring and confidence.

Nicholas Wood holds an NHMRC Career Development Fellowship and Churchill Fellowship.

Phoebe Roth, Deputy Editor, Health+Medicine, The Conversation

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

More From Forest Beat

Easter chocolate eggs

What’s the difference between Easter egg chocolate and regular chocolate?

Margaret Murray, Swinburne University of Technology and Andrew Costanzo, Deakin University With Easter around the corner, you’ll have seen chocolate Easter eggs on supermarket shelves....
Health
4
minutes
Juniper Chrystal Halliday Residential Aged Care

Nursing home residents are paying $800 a week for services they...

By Anna Howe, Macquarie University Nursing home residents confined to their rooms during COVID are like hypothetical tenants locked in their bedrooms by landlords –...
Health
3
minutes
vaccination

Haven’t yet been vaccinated for COVID? Novavax might change your mind

By Jack Feehan, Victoria University and Vasso Apostolopoulos, Victoria University After significant delays in production and approval, Novavax – the first protein-based vaccine against COVID...
COVID-19
4
minutes
woman meditating resting

At home with COVID? 5 easy tips to help you breathe...

By Clarice Tang, Western Sydney University Shortness of breath, persistent cough and fatigue are common COVID signs and symptoms. And the vast majority of people...
Health
4
minutes
spot_imgspot_img