Key Points
- Australia to rollout vaccines for vulnerable children under five on 5 September
- COVID can be nasty for some kids: experts
- Vaccines side effects are less common in children than adults
Earlier this year, the COVID-19 vaccines were made available to all children aged 5-11.
Still, only 40 per cent of the 2.3 million eligible children in this age group have taken their recommended two doses.
Dr Brenden McMullan, a Paediatric Infectious Diseases Specialist at Sydney Children's Hospital, said parents perhaps are a little worried about the vaccine's side effects and are unsure that their children need it.
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How safe are COVID-19 vaccines for children?
SBS English
11/08/202214:21
Paediatrician and Associate Professor Nick Wood said the other reasons behind the low vaccine uptake could be logistics and people not finding time to take their children to a vaccination centre.
"Parents of six- or seven-year-child who have had COVID-19 might think
since the infection wasn't too bad, they really don't need to rush and get the vaccine," Professor Wood said.
"There is a recommendation to wait for at least three months before getting the vaccine if you have COVID-19. So that probably could be another reason for the low uptake."
Do children need a COVID-19 vaccine?
Both experts said coronavirus infections are mild for most kids, but for a few, particularly those with underlying chronic medical problems, COVID-19 can be quite nasty.
"Some children can get quite sick and require hospitalisation. They might need extra help like Oxygen or fluids because their breathing's not too good and their oral intake (eating and drinking) is down," Professor Wood said.
He said COVID-19 vaccines stop kids from getting severely sick.
"Even if you've had an infection, there are benefits to having infection plus vaccine. The immunity you get is probably broader, and it might protect you from getting reinfected," Professor Wood said.
Dr McMullan said unvaccinated people, including children, are more likely to catch coronavirus.
"Early in the pandemic, we tended to see some teenagers in hospitals with more serious diseases. Now, we see younger children in hospital," he said.
How safe are vaccines?
Experts say these vaccines have been thoroughly researched and administered to millions of children globally.
In Australia, they have been assessed by the Therapeutic Goods Administration and recommended by the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI).
Professor Wood was the lead author of the recent AusVaxSafety report that analysed vaccine safety data in more than 200,000 Australian children aged five to 15.
He said the common side effects in children were pain and redness at the injection site, which usually comes on in the first 48 hours of getting vaccines and last a couple of days.
Fever, headache and muscle aches are other common side effects in children and adults.
"But they're less common in kids than they are in adults. They are a little bit less common in 5- to 11-year-old kids than in 12- to 15-year-old kids," Professor Wood said.
Professor Wood and his team didn't find risks for myocarditis (inflammation of heart condition) in children under 12.
"It is a little bit more common in those aged 15-25. And it happens mainly in the young males, after dose two. Young adults or adolescents might complain of some chest pain or a bit of heart palpitations," he said
"And if they do, then they need to go and see the GP or the emergency doctor. But this is not common. It is like one in five to ten thousand," he added.
Dr McMullan deals with severe side effects as an infectious disease specialist and assists with immunisation.
"I've looked after more children with more serious COVID than I've had to deal with vaccine side effects," Dr McMullan said.
Which vaccines are recommended for children?
Currently, ATAGI recommends two doses of Moderna's Spikevax vaccine for vulnerable children aged six months to five years.
"This age group is one of the least likely groups to require hospitalisation due to COVID-19. Among the small number who are hospitalised or who die due to COVID-19, underlying medical conditions or immunocompromise are frequently present," the ATAGI said.
The National Interoperable Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System has reported more than 350,000 COVID-19 notifications and eight COVID-19 deaths in children aged 0-5 between 1 December 2021 and 17 June 2022.
All children in the 5-11 and 12-15 age groups can receive two doses of either Pfizer or Moderna vaccine. A third dose is recommended only for vulnerable children.
Long COVID in children
Dr McMullan said long COVID is more common in adults compared to children.
"Most children who have COVID will really recover back to their baseline within a few weeks," he said.
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