News item | 02-12-2022 | 16:10
Children under the age of 5 who are medically high risk are more likely to become seriously ill from corona than their peers. For example, because of a heart or lung disorder or an immune disorder. That is why they can be vaccinated from 16 January at the invitation of the paediatrician at specially designated GGD locations. This concerns about 5,000 children with an increased medical risk. The Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport is following suit with this advice from the Health Council. The corona shot has been available since the beginning of 2022 for children aged 5 and older with and without medical risk.
Child dosage from BioNTech/Pfizer
Parents of children under the age of 5 with a serious medical condition will receive an invitation from the pediatrician from 12 January 2023. With this invitation, they can visit specially designated GGD locations from 16 January by appointment. The basic series consists of three shots with a child dose of the Pfizer vaccine. This vaccine was approved by the European Medicines Agency EMA on October 19, 2022.
Corona shot not necessary for healthy children under 5 years old
Vaccination against the coronavirus is not necessary for healthy children under the age of 5. According to the Health Council, the risk of them becoming seriously ill due to corona is low. MIS-C, a serious inflammatory reaction after a corona infection, also rarely occurs in children younger than 5 years old. In addition, we see this complication less often since the omikron variant of the coronavirus has become dominant. Also, children who have previously had an infection almost never get MIS-C. The Health Council concludes that the number of children who are still at risk of MIS-C is limited, because a large number of children have already been infected with the corona virus. Vaccination will hardly offer them better protection against MIS-C. It is therefore not necessary to offer the corona vaccination to children aged 6 months to 5 years without a serious medical condition.