WHO says it reviews need for vaccinating children against COVID-19.
“WHO, with support of the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization and its COVID-19 Vaccines Working Group, is reviewing the emerging evidence on the need for and timing of vaccinating children and adolescents with the currently available COVID-19 vaccines,” WHO said in what it called “an interim statement.”
To a question by Anadolu Agency, WHO’s chief scientist Dr. Soumya Swaminathan said: “If you look at people under the age of 25, less than 0.5% of global deaths have occurred in that age group. And if you look at children less than five (years of age), it’s 0.1%, and five to 10, it’s also 0.1%.”
“So, the one thing that’s clear, and that’s been consistent from the beginning up to now is children certainly get infected almost as much as adults do,” she said, adding that “the risk of severe illness and death has been consistently very, very low” for children.
