‘What if it harms my child?’ Parents wary of Covid vaccine

Government has no clear inoculation plan for children

By Yukta Mudgal

Whilethe government has not proposed a system to vaccinate children for covid, many parents fear their children will suffer side-effects from the covid vaccination.

Preetha Shankar, mother of a seven-year-old, said: “I am not sure if I will get my child vaccinated against Covid. Even adults were initially hesitant to get vaccinated due to the sudden death of three relatives who had been vaccinated. I believe that if my child gets herd immunity, that would be better.”

Another parent, Reema Kumari, said: “My child already has a health issue. I fear his health might get worse after his vaccination; but if doctors insist, I will get him vaccinated.”

Neha Kumari, a mother, said: “If the doctors assure me the vaccine will not harm my child in the future, I will get him vaccinated; otherwise, I will not. The vaccine should be approved both by the government and doctors, for the parents to trust the vaccine completely.”

Dr Aarthi Doss, a pediatrician, said Covid is a new disease that

In is still evolving.“There have been cases of people developing autism decades after vaccination against a certain disease. In the case of children, pediatricians have to look at the long-term effects as their lungs have low immunity… as compared to adults. Covid vaccination in India is still undergoing trials. In this case, we cannot say if vaccines like Corbevax are right for children.”

Explaining the long-term effects of Covid vaccination, she added: “Many adults died of cardiac arrest days after being vaccinated against Covid.We can’t be sure how the vaccines will react in a child’s body. This is the reason why so many people are anti-vaxxers. To vaccinate children, we need to perform tests.”

Dr Harshal Nikam, a virol- ogist, said no clinical trials for children’s Covid vaccination have been conducted. “Children are vulnerable to various Covid mutations. However, research is being carried on for the suitability of the vaccination and we are waiting for DCGI’s decision.”

The Observer tried to contact the officials from Arogya Soudha, but they were unavailable to comment on the matter.

In an interview with the Deccan Herald, virologist Dr Jacob T John said: “Countries like the United Kingdom have announced a children’s vaccination programme. But that has to be systematic, and India doesn’t have a system at present in place for this. Also, you have to use a vaccine that’s guaranteed safe. In Europe, one in 50 women below

Did You Know?

65 years developed bleeding and clotting problems due to AstraZeneca (Covishield), and Europe stopped using it for women a long time ago. In India, we don’t know how many people have died due to vaccine-related complications. Covaxin has not caused any serious side-effects, but there’s no discussion about this. We need more transparency regarding the whole vaccination drive that happen in the country. We need a system where all te queries of the parents are addressed before vaccinating children. Why can’t Covaxin be given to children?”

In April 2022, Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai said he would initiate a vaccination drive for children who fall under the 6-12 age group.

According to a report by The Indian Express, Corbevax is advised for children and the second of the vaccine should be taken 28 days after the first. A precautionary dose is also advised to taken for children after nine months of receiving the second dose.

In october 2022, Businessline reported that the Corbevax vaccine is approved to be administered in children by the World Health Organization. Corbevax has been approved in India, since March and presently over 4.10 crore have received their first dose in this group.

According to the Covid-19 Information Portal, Karnataka has 1,943 active Covid cases with more than 40,302 fatalities so far. yukta.m@iijnm.org