Abstract

Background: A large proportion of the adult population has already received vaccine against the COVID-19. On account of issues related to availability of the vaccines and safety restraints, the child population, comprising around one-third of the world population, stands more or less left out.

Objective: Developing a state-of-the-art update on different aspects of COVID-19 vaccination of children and the vaccines that are now available for actual use.

Design: Review of the English medical literature concerning COVID-19 vaccination of children with special reference to the vaccines that have become available for administration to paediatric population.

Salient Features: COVID-19 pandemic has so far been defying availability of a specific medication against the causative virus. Mercifully, scientists have done a spectacular job in developing a number of vaccines in less than a year after the identification of the aetiological virus. The vaccines are being extensively used worldwide to vaccinate the adult population. The approval of vaccines, successfully tested for children, has come only recently. Hence, the use has just got off the ground in restricted age groups and is picking up.

Conclusion: Like adults, virtually all children must be vaccinated against COVID-19. However, vaccination of children against COVID- 19 is a recent development. Presently, Pfizer-BioNTech and Chinese Sinovac vaccines are available for use. Indian Covaxin has now been included in the national campaign for children aged 12-17 years. Moderna vaccine for children > 12 years is also approved. It is felt that child vaccination against COVID-19 must pick up. Else, the gains from adult vaccination may well be diluted since unvaccinated children are likely to spread the virus widely and a proportion may suffer from severe complications, including the multisystem inflammatory system (MIS-C).

Keywords: Children; COVID-19 Vaccines; MIS-C; Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine; Sinovac’s Vaccine

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