The Food and Drug Administration on Sunday last week expanded emergency use authorization for the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to children aged six to 11, and the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices followed with its recommendation on Wednesday.
The recommendation sparked wide discussion, as many parents are worried that the Moderna vaccine might not be safe or necessary for children. Research has shown that children rarely experience severe illness from COVID-19.
Committee convener Lee Ping-ing (李秉穎) said a week earlier that the COVID-19 fatality rate in US children is about one per 1 million, but the rate of serious adverse reactions post-vaccination is only about 0.1 per 1 million, and the fatality rate from anaphylaxis and myocarditis after COVID-19 vaccination was nearly zero.
Although the risk of severe COVID-19 is very low in children, dozens could die if the local outbreak expands, Lee said on Wednesday, adding that parents should weigh the risk of rare adverse reactions and the risk of severe illness or death from infection.
Opposition parties’ inconsistent positions on the government’s disease prevention policies could add to parents’ anxieties. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) earlier this month questioned whether class suspensions could harm students’ right to education, but later condemned the easing of suspensions as not caring about the safety of unvaccinated students, and demanded that vaccinations for children be allowed.
After the committee’s recommendation, the KMT accused the government of treating children as “lab rats” for the Moderna vaccine, citing Japan, South Korea and the US as countries that have not approved the brand for children. It urged the government to instead authorize the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children aged five to 11.
The Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) had also urged the government to authorize the Moderna vaccine for children, but after the committee’s announcement, it echoed the KMT’s claim that the CECC was using children as “lab rats.” The party said the Moderna vaccine contains five times as much mRNA material as the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which worries parents about adverse reactions.
Some vaccine experts and physicians have addressed public concerns, explaining that the Moderna vaccine offers longer-lasting protection than Pfizer’s shot, but is more likely to cause mild adverse reactions. Others have said that vaccinating children against COVID-19 not only protects them from severe illness or death, but also helps protect vulnerable or elderly relatives.
A report published by the US CDC on Friday showed that among 397 children hospitalized with the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 from Dec. 19 last year to Feb. 28, 87 percent were unvaccinated, 30 percent had no underlying medical condition, and 19 percent were admitted to an intensive care unit.
Many parents are naturally cautious when making decisions that could affect their children’s health, but the government could do more to inform and convince parents, allowing them to understand that the choice to vaccinate or not has risks either way, so they should carefully weigh this important health decision.
The government could also provide analysis based on scientific data, be honest and clear about the possible risks and correct any misinformation that circulates so that parents can make well-informed choices about vaccinating their children.
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