Covid vaccine 5-11 years, pediatricians: “Maybe by Halloween”

Covid vaccine for children between 5 and 11 by Halloween. This is the “optimistic” prediction that the president of the Pediatric Physicians Federation (Fimp), Paolo Biasci, makes to Adnkronos Salute. “The results” on the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine “are very comforting – he says -. Moreover, until now the vaccine had always given very satisfactory results in trials. In the 12-18 years age group – recalls the pediatrician – it had given results both in terms of safety and in terms of very high efficacy, and this clearly was the prerequisite for continuing with the experiments in the age of children, with very important results “. “Now – underlines Biasci – we know that the regulatory agencies will have to work, both the FDA in the United States and the EMA in Europe, and I believe that in a few weeks we will have an approval for its definitive use. Maybe I am a bit optimistic and we must always be – he recommends – but I hope that for Halloween we could be able to start vaccinating the age group between 5 and 11 years that until now has been excluded, but that we will be able to recover “. Whether it is Halloween or Christmas, however, “it is advisable to give the children the vaccine”, recommends the president Fimp. As for the adhesion by families, “a lot – he believes – will depend on the strategy. I believe that with the little ones a personalized vaccination will be even more important, therefore the trust relationship between free choice pediatrician and family will be fundamental to respond to all the clarifications or doubts, but also with regard to a more personalized welcome “.” We are not thinking of a vaccination in the hubs, but we are thinking of a vaccination in the basic pediatric facilities that guarantee a more familiar welcome – suggests Biasci – This I think which will be an element, from an organizational point of view, that we will have to put in place even more “. “Surely – continues the pediatrician – seeing the smiling faces, satisfied with the adolescents who are vaccinating themselves and who have been vaccinated in recent times, in view of the school, the resumption of contacts, the resumption of sports activities, I think it was a fundamental signal also for the parents, because they clearly saw in the eyes of their children a kind of sense of liberation, of a return to a new normality. And I believe that these aspects must also be taken into consideration because they are fundamental “. Therefore, if adolescents are joining the vaccination campaign against Covid-19 “with a smile”, President Fimp hopes that the same happens with children as well. A trick / vaccine / treat? “It would be a beauty, why not? With them – says Biasci – imagination never fails”.