NEW DELHI: Experts have questioned the need to vaccinate children in the age group of 12-14 years, saying that there is no scientific data proving that this will protect them from COVID-19. Top epidemiologist Dr JP Muliyil said the government's decision to allow vaccination of this group from Wednesday will not "benefit them".
He also said the decision of vaccinating children was not approved by the National Technical Advisory Group on immunisation (NTAGI), which recommends government evidence-based immunization related decisions. The government had said that the decision to vaccinate was taken "after due deliberations with scientific bodies".
"I fail to see the reason (why it was cleared)," said Muliyil, who is a former principal of Christian Medical College in Vellore. He is also a member of the working group of NTAGI. He stressed there is "no evidence that children suffering from high-risk diseases if given vaccines will avoid death".
Children, who survived Omicron, have developed defence, he said, adding it is "very far-fetched and hypothetical to think" that the vaccine will protect them from another variant. Dr Sanjay Rai, principal investigator of Covaxin trials at AIIMS, also said there is no additional benefit of vaccination among children.
"For any public health policy, there should be a clear cut objective. Mortality among children is very low. In children, the risk of COVID-19 is lower but adverse events following immunisation could be more. We need to generate more data," he said.
However, Dr NK Arora of NTAGI said the recommendation is in line with the WHO. "Keeping in mind programmatic challenges of identifying children with co-morbidity, who constitute 10-15 per cent in every age group, the government in its wisdom has taken the decision to immunise all above 12 years," he said.