Vaccination in the fringe of five to 11 years old started on December 15, in the ascent of the sixth wave.
In the first week, 700,000 doses were administered, a frantic rhythm that has been slowing down more and more, up to 30,000 doses since it started February.
We were in the middle of the way when the massive infection came out of time.
Hundreds of thousands of children have been infected this winter, after almost two years of sacrifices so as not to do so.
Many were days to be able to vaccinate.
“Vaccination between five and 11 years old started with quite impetus.
In that strip of age there were still few cases.
The variant omicron came up more or less at that moment and the niche of the disease was that strip of age.
They were falling exponentially, “explains Fernando García-Room, president of the Prandi Foundation of the Spanish Society of Extrahospital Pediatrics and Primary Care.
“When it has been proposed to put the second dose, or the first in other cases, many had already passed the Covid.”
According to the current protocol, children who have been infected before the first dose will have to wait eight weeks to receive the vaccine, which for them will consist of a single puncture.
Those who have been infected between doses and doses, will also wait another eight weeks to put on the second and complete the pattern.
“With which, the vaccination that was going to be put to these children in January has had to delay,” says García-Room, who also points to two other causes of the current brace.
One of them has been that the set of the system, of education to health, has brushed the collapse with omicron.
“In some communities, the vaccination model has been changed.
Before he was vaccinated in the schools, and now the teachers have protested because they do not want to take charge of that topic.
And in other sites it was vaccinated in primary care, in health centers, which are now very collapsed, “reviewed the pediatrician.
And one last cause: “Third, many parents see that their children have passed the Covid and have had little symptomatology, with which they retract a little,” says García-Room, to underline: “Said all this, we recommend vaccination
.
Because, if not, we are not going to end the pandemic ».
Although, outside of epidemiological interest, there are purely pediatric motives: “If a child has Covid and is vaccinated, that Covid is going to be much lighter than if he was not vaccinated.
Just as it is happening in adults, “Razona her.
“I hope that in March the vaccination of children is reactivated,” trust García-Room.
Although several elements of uncertainty persist, they have to do with the little clarity with which the recommendations have been transmitted.
“You have to give some general guidelines, at the level of Spain and the EU.
What we can not do variations: ‘I believe, I think …’.
And that’s happening many times, “regrets the pediatrician.
«You have to follow the recommendations;
In this case, from the ministry.
If not, it is a realm of taifas, it can not be.
There has been a lot of discrepancy.
Many people think, but think about a personal level, and I believe that personal opinions should not be taken into account, because they do not lead to anything.
This is not a debate, it is a very serious thing.
You have to put the points about the Iese and go all on the same boat, “says García-Room.
The confusion, he adds, has not only agreed on the contradictory opinions that have been appearing in the media, but also of the institutional planning itself.
“There has been so much variation in the protocols that even the pediatrician at the foot of the street, primary care, has been a little overflowing, because if today I tell you this and tomorrow I tell you the other, people distrust you.
And that’s not good.
It makes, sometimes, even the pediatrician hed.
Things are continually changing and, in the end, doubts, “says García-Room.
Despite everything, it does not believe that there is a true scientific debate around childhood vaccination.
“Controversy, none.
I do not want any kind of controversy, because there is no;
I believe that we have to follow the recommendations and face this as much as we can, “remaches the pediatrician.
“And, above all, do not change both protocols, that can not be. It is logical that people at the end distrust, I understand it.”
In addition to a lower risk of suffering from severe Covid and a greater chance of controlling the epidemic, experts expect childhood vaccination to support persistent Covid, which can cause physical and cognitive damage to children or adolescents who have passed the Covid with
Few or no symptoms.
According to estimates of the Office of National Statistics of the United Kingdom, there may be some 44,000 children from two to 11 years old suffering from persistent Covid in this country, a figure that increases up to 73,000 between 12 and 16 years.