WHO: adolescents and children should not be vaccinated against COVID-19
Photo: Gustavo Valiente / RIA Novosti
The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended refraining from general vaccination against COVID-19 in adolescents and children, RIA Novosti reports.
Following the meeting of the Strategic Advisory Group on Immunization (SAGE), experts said that children and adolescents are the least susceptible to the severe course of the coronavirus, so one should not rush to vaccinate them. “The burden of severe disease in these age groups is small, and high vaccination coverage among the most at risk groups has yet to be achieved in all countries,” the WHO said.
On December 20, the Russian Ministry of Health included the COVID-19 vaccination in the national vaccination schedule. The first-tier priority for compulsory vaccination against coronavirus in the department included Russians over 60 years old, health workers, social services and education employees, people with chronic diseases and residents of cities with a population of over one million.
The head of the National Medical Research Center (NMRC) of Children's Health of the Russian Ministry of Health, Andrei Fisenko, said that vaccination of adolescents against coronavirus would be exclusively voluntary. He clarified that it would be done upon a written request from the parents.
