According to Italy’s Health Minister, Covid will be available for children under 5 years old next year.
Andrea Costa stated on Thursday that he was ‘hopeful” jabs will be available for the youngest children by March 31st.
He said, “We wait for the work of scientists, who each day give the right tools to combat the pandemic,”
A majority of countries now have at least one child vaccinated against Covid. However, a few still inoculate children under 5.
It is true that serving illness among children below five years old is rare. In fact, deaths within this age bracket are very uncommon.
The country’s minister of health has indicated that the approval of covid vaccines for under-5-year-olds could take place in Italy by April 2019.
There were just two children killed in England between February 2020 and February 2021.
Nearly half the deaths were caused by severe conditions, and many of those who survived required extensive medical attention such as feeding tubes or breathing support.
It is believed that vaccination of children can help stop Covid spreading to more vulnerable age groups, especially school-age kids.
While vaccines may not be as effective in stopping infections as they are at preventing death and serious illness from Covid, they still offer some protection against transmission, even against Omicron variants.
Nation that don’t routinely immunize children find it difficult to raise their jab rates beyond 70% – which is the minimum required to maintain herd immunity.
With its vaccination campaign almost finished in the early summer, the UK was able to vaccinate its adults at a much faster pace than other European countries.
Europe has on average vaccinated 65 to 70% of its population with Covid. Countries with higher jab rates, however, have all vaccinated their children widely.
Its overall jab rate was then around 68%, which is slightly higher than the European average and just shy of the threshold for herd immunity.
Britain was vaccinated in the past by Portugal, Spain and Portugal. They have now vaccinated 90% and 80% of their populations.
Children aged 12-15 years old are offered one dose in the UK. Only recently, however, have two doses been made available to people with conditions.
Spain and Portugal were fully vaccinating children over twelve months in Spain, Portugal and started offering two doses of vaccines for those over five years earlier in December.
Both countries fared much better than the UK against the Covid winter wave.
Both are experiencing an increase in cases due to the Omicron vaccine, although neither have implemented any significant restrictions. Hospital admissions as well as deaths continue to be very low.
Only a few countries have begun to vaccinate the under-5s against Covid. In June, China was the first country to authorize a shot for children three years old and over.
China was one of the first to provide jabs for under-5s. It approved the Sinovac vaccine in June.
Many countries that rely upon the Sinovac shot to help with their jab campaigns, such as Hong Kong, Argentina and Bahrain, have also followed the lead.
After the approval of the EU’s medical regulator last month, most European countries now have or plan to vaccinate children over five years old.
Pfizer’s vaccine was also approved by the United State in November. Some states now require vaccines for children over 12.
A much-smaller group of nations restrict the jabs to only older children, including the likes of Brazil, Russia, India, Sweden, Norway, and Mexico.
Cuba was the first nation to provide vaccines to children as young as two, and now everyone can get shots from Cuba.