Youth vaccination, authorities “even if you don’t have to”… Expert “It’s more positive to be right”

[아시아경제 이춘희 기자] While the government is scheduled to announce a fourth-quarter vaccination plan that includes whether or not children and adolescents will be vaccinated against COVID-19 within this month, authorities and experts have mixed opinions.

Hong Jeong-ik, head of the vaccination management team at the Corona 19 Vaccination Response Promotion Team, said at a COVID-19 back briefing held on the 14th, “In general, healthy children and adolescents do not fall under the high-risk group, so we do not believe that they should receive (corona 19 vaccine) vaccination.” However, he said, “If you have an underlying disease, of course, the risk of infection is much greater, so I think it is necessary to get vaccinated.”

In the United States and other countries, adolescents over 12 years of age are actively vaccinated, and in Korea, the age at which the Pfizer vaccine can be vaccinated is lowered to 12 years of age under the product approval, and discussions are being raised about vaccination for children and adolescents. Meanwhile, Dr. Tracy Hogg’s team at the University of California, USA analyzed the adverse reactions that occurred after completion of vaccination among American adolescents aged 12 to 17, and found that the likelihood of diagnosing myocarditis due to vaccination is 4 to 6 times higher than that of hospitalization for COVID-19. The results were also announced on the 12th (local time).

Team leader Hong said, “We do not think that the benefits of vaccination for the 12-17 year olds are significantly greater,” although it is something that needs to be judged based on objective data.

Team leader Hong said, “We will provide parents and children and adolescents with accurate information about healthy children and adolescents and provide a good basis for them to rationally decide whether or not to vaccinate. We plan to faithfully provide scientific information.” In response, he added, “We are approaching this in a way that provides opportunities for teenagers over 12 years of age to receive vaccinations.”

On the other hand, Choi Won-seok, a professor at the Department of Infectious Diseases at the Korea University Ansan Hospital, who attended the briefing on adverse reactions after the back briefing, made a slightly different argument. Professor Choi said, “There are many different opinions about the benefits and risks of immunization for adolescents.”

Professor Choi said, “It is true that 12-17 year olds are the age with the lowest risk of COVID-19 based on age alone. Assuming that this is an individual opinion, he predicted, “If children who are not vaccinated are gathered together, there is a possibility that the incidence of COVID-19 there will be higher.”

However, he said, “There is a lot of disagreement among experts, and I don’t think we will approach it like we do with the vaccination rate target for other age groups. It is an opinion that it would be desirable to open the way,” he added.

Reporter Lee Chun-hee spring@asiae.co.kr