Categories: News

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

<p>Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration &lpar;TGA&rpar; recently announced <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;tga&period;gov&period;au&sol;tga-provisional-approval-pfizer-biontech-covid-19-vaccine-include-12-15-years-age-group">provisional approval<&sol;a> for the Pfizer vaccine to be used in 12-15-year-olds&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>We learned on Monday that the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation &lpar;ATAGI&rpar; has advised that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;health&period;gov&period;au&sol;news&sol;atagi-statement-regarding-vaccination-of-adolescents-aged-12-15-years">children aged 12-15<&sol;a>&comma; those who live in remote communities&comma; and those with underlying medical conditions should be prioritised to receive the jab&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>With COVID vaccination for kids being such a hot topic&comma; we asked five experts whether we should vaccinate children in Australia against COVID-19&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Four out of five experts said yes<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"align-center "><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;images&period;theconversation&period;com&sol;files&sol;414092&sol;original&sol;file-20210802-28-vmb45o&period;png&quest;ixlib&equals;rb-1&period;1&period;0&amp&semi;q&equals;45&amp&semi;auto&equals;format&amp&semi;w&equals;754&amp&semi;fit&equals;clip" sizes&equals;"&lpar;min-width&colon; 1466px&rpar; 754px&comma; &lpar;max-width&colon; 599px&rpar; 100vw&comma; &lpar;min-width&colon; 600px&rpar; 600px&comma; 237px" srcset&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;images&period;theconversation&period;com&sol;files&sol;414092&sol;original&sol;file-20210802-28-vmb45o&period;png&quest;ixlib&equals;rb-1&period;1&period;0&amp&semi;q&equals;45&amp&semi;auto&equals;format&amp&semi;w&equals;600&amp&semi;h&equals;99&amp&semi;fit&equals;crop&amp&semi;dpr&equals;1 600w&comma; https&colon;&sol;&sol;images&period;theconversation&period;com&sol;files&sol;414092&sol;original&sol;file-20210802-28-vmb45o&period;png&quest;ixlib&equals;rb-1&period;1&period;0&amp&semi;q&equals;30&amp&semi;auto&equals;format&amp&semi;w&equals;600&amp&semi;h&equals;99&amp&semi;fit&equals;crop&amp&semi;dpr&equals;2 1200w&comma; https&colon;&sol;&sol;images&period;theconversation&period;com&sol;files&sol;414092&sol;original&sol;file-20210802-28-vmb45o&period;png&quest;ixlib&equals;rb-1&period;1&period;0&amp&semi;q&equals;15&amp&semi;auto&equals;format&amp&semi;w&equals;600&amp&semi;h&equals;99&amp&semi;fit&equals;crop&amp&semi;dpr&equals;3 1800w&comma; https&colon;&sol;&sol;images&period;theconversation&period;com&sol;files&sol;414092&sol;original&sol;file-20210802-28-vmb45o&period;png&quest;ixlib&equals;rb-1&period;1&period;0&amp&semi;q&equals;45&amp&semi;auto&equals;format&amp&semi;w&equals;754&amp&semi;h&equals;125&amp&semi;fit&equals;crop&amp&semi;dpr&equals;1 754w&comma; https&colon;&sol;&sol;images&period;theconversation&period;com&sol;files&sol;414092&sol;original&sol;file-20210802-28-vmb45o&period;png&quest;ixlib&equals;rb-1&period;1&period;0&amp&semi;q&equals;30&amp&semi;auto&equals;format&amp&semi;w&equals;754&amp&semi;h&equals;125&amp&semi;fit&equals;crop&amp&semi;dpr&equals;2 1508w&comma; https&colon;&sol;&sol;images&period;theconversation&period;com&sol;files&sol;414092&sol;original&sol;file-20210802-28-vmb45o&period;png&quest;ixlib&equals;rb-1&period;1&period;0&amp&semi;q&equals;15&amp&semi;auto&equals;format&amp&semi;w&equals;754&amp&semi;h&equals;125&amp&semi;fit&equals;crop&amp&semi;dpr&equals;3 2262w" alt&equals;"" &sol;><figcaption><&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p><strong><em>Here are their detailed responses&colon;<&sol;em><&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><iframe id&equals;"tc-infographic-601" class&equals;"tc-infographic" style&equals;"border&colon; none&semi;" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;theconversation&period;com&sol;infographics&sol;601&sol;d4bb3585f75365412dae67a7c7a259c02d5db35d&sol;site&sol;index&period;html" width&equals;"100&percnt;" height&equals;"400px" frameborder&equals;"0"><&sol;iframe><&sol;p>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p><em>If you have a &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;yes or no” health question you’d like posed to Five Experts&comma; email your suggestion to&colon; phoebe&period;roth&commat;theconversation&period;edu&period;au&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p><strong><em>Disclosures&colon;<&sol;em><&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Asha Bowen is co-chair of the Australian and New Zealand Paediatric Infectious Diseases &lpar;ANZPID&rpar; group of the Australasian Society of Infectious Diseases&period; She receives research funding from NHMRC&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Catherine Bennett has received NHMRC and MRFF funding&comma; and is an independent expert on the AstraZeneca advisory board&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Julian Savulescu receives funding from the Wellcome Trust&period; This work was supported by the UKRI&sol;AHRC funded <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;ukpandemicethics&period;org&sol;">UK Ethics Accelerator project<&sol;a>&comma; grant number AH&sol;V013947&sol;1&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Margie Danchin is a member of ATAGI’s working group on vaccine safety&comma; evaluation&comma; monitoring and confidence&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Nicholas Wood holds an NHMRC Career Development Fellowship and Churchill Fellowship&period;<&sol;em><&excl;-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag&period; Please DO NOT REMOVE&period; --><img style&equals;"border&colon; none &excl;important&semi; box-shadow&colon; none &excl;important&semi; margin&colon; 0 &excl;important&semi; max-height&colon; 1px &excl;important&semi; max-width&colon; 1px &excl;important&semi; min-height&colon; 1px &excl;important&semi; min-width&colon; 1px &excl;important&semi; opacity&colon; 0 &excl;important&semi; outline&colon; none &excl;important&semi; padding&colon; 0 &excl;important&semi; text-shadow&colon; none &excl;important&semi;" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;counter&period;theconversation&period;com&sol;content&sol;165316&sol;count&period;gif&quest;distributor&equals;republish-lightbox-basic" alt&equals;"The Conversation" width&equals;"1" height&equals;"1" &sol;><&excl;-- End of code&period; If you don't see any code above&comma; please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button&period; The page counter does not collect any personal data&period; More info&colon; https&colon;&sol;&sol;theconversation&period;com&sol;republishing-guidelines --><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;theconversation&period;com&sol;au&sol;team&num;phoebe-roth">Phoebe Roth<&sol;a>&comma; Deputy Editor&comma; Health&plus;Medicine&comma; <em><a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;theconversation&period;com&sol;">The Conversation<&sol;a><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This article is republished from <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;theconversation&period;com">The Conversation<&sol;a> under a Creative Commons license&period; Read the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;theconversation&period;com&sol;should-we-vaccinate-children-against-covid-19-we-asked-5-experts-165316">original article<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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