Health officials urge parents to get children vaccinated against COVID-19, claim Pfizer is mot effective

By Mahima Devkota, Kathmandu, Aug 26: Health officials have claimed that Pfizer/ /BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is the most effective vaccine for protecting children against novel coronavirus, therefore, parents should not miss vaccinating their younger children.

Pfizer/BioNTech Company said that a Pfizer vaccine against COVID-19 is 73 percent effective in protecting children younger than five years and has 100 percent efficacy in children from five to 12 age groups when taken a complete shot.

Dr. Yuba Nidhi Basaula, director of the Kanti Children's Hospital, said that the Pfizer vaccine is 100 percent secure and parents should get their children vaccinated at the earliest in the nearest vaccination centers to protect children from the deadly virus.

Director Basula said, "Children suffering from chronic illness, such as having diabetics, heart disease, HIV/AIDS, kidney problem or having dialysis are suggested to get fully vaccinated otherwise, they might end up in the ICU and suffer from chronic pneumonia if they contracted the novel coronavirus."

He said that currently there is a terror of Adeno Virus and dengue, which is infecting lots of children, and when COVID-19 will spread to children, then it will add a burden to public health.

As per the report of the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP0), a total of 132, that is 71 males and 61 females of the 0-10 age group, and as many as 467 children, that is 224 females, 243 males of age group 11-20 years, from August 1 till now have suffered from Adeno virus.

Dr. Bibek Kumar Lal, Director of the Family Welfare Division under the department of health services, also stressed that Pfizer is the most effective vaccine against sub-variants of SARS-COV-2 for younger children.

Dr. Lal said, "We are currently running a vaccination campaign in children aged 5 to 11 years. It is proving to be effective in protecting children. Even though we are currently at the peak of the fourth wave of COVID-19, not many children have contracted or faced mortality. For this, vaccination plays the major part." 

Bharat Bhandari, Immunization Officer at the Child Health and Immunization Section under the department of the health services (DoHs), said that around 1.9 million children are already vaccinated in the first phase and around 3.6 million children are targeted to be inoculated in the second phase.

Sagar Bhandari, Chief of the National Immunization Program, said, "We are reviewing the efficacy of the vaccine against COVID-19 in children below five years.  With the recommendation of the World Health Organization (WHO) and a thorough discussion we will also conduct vaccination to children below five years."