By Chioma Obinagwam
The US is insisting on COVID booster for children above 6 months because they believe it will provide better protection against the original virus and the recent variants, especially the omicron subvariant XBB.1.5, which is more than 90 percent of the Covid viruses circulating now.
Confiance News gathered from a Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Wednesday.
The CDC recommends that children should get a booster dose five months after finishing their primary COVID-19 vaccination series of two shots.
For children ages 12 and up, that means a booster the same dose as their primary series, which is the same dosage given to adults.
For children ages 6 months through 4 years, that means a booster dose of bivalent vaccine, which is an updated vaccine that targets two strains of the virus, at least 2 months after their third dose of the original vaccine.
The US is facing a late-summer uptick in Covid cases, with more than 18,000 people hospitalized with Covid in the week ending September 2. The CDC’s director, Dr. Mandy Cohen, said that they have more tools than ever to prevent the worst outcomes from Covid-19 and that updated COVID-19 vaccination for everyone 6 months and older will better protect them and their loved ones.
The CDC’s advisers also cited evidence that 54 percent of kids and teenagers hospitalized with Covid have no underlying health problems that would otherwise increase their vulnerability.
The controversy of side effects of vaccine for children is mainly based on the rare but serious cases of myocarditis and pericarditis, which are inflammation of the heart muscle and the lining around the heart, respectively.
These cases have been reported mostly in male adolescents and young adults after receiving the second dose of Pfizer or Moderna vaccines.
However, the CDC and other health experts have said that the benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks of these rare complications, and that most people who developed these conditions recovered quickly with treatment. They also said that getting Covid-19 can cause more severe heart problems than getting vaccinated. Therefore, they still recommend vaccination for children and young adults as a safe and effective way to prevent Covid-19 and its complications.
