Vaccines for children, pediatrician: “No fear, they must be protected”

On the anti-Covid vaccination for the little ones, “we must not be afraid”. Word of Alberto Villani, head of General Pediatrics and Infectious Diseases at the Bambino Gesù Hospital in Rome. “If there is a risk, and there is, that even the little ones contract this disease severely and may even die from it, and if there is a way to not take that risk, there is no room for any hesitation,” he says in an interview. on ‘Avvenire’. After all, “all the data prove it: vaccines are safe and effective even for the smallest. I expect, indeed, that we will soon see them approved for the age groups under the age of 12. And it is a ‘excellent news: that they too are protected from Covid is essential “, underlines Villani, explaining that” the fact that they risk less does not mean that they are not at risk, on the contrary “. The pediatrician recalls some data: “in Italy, where we have the great fortune of being able to count on an efficient health service in pediatric care, we have had 30 deaths among children and between 200 and 300 hospitalizations, of which some dozen in intensive care. in most cases he treated fragile children, certainly: with previous pathologies and comorbidities “. In short, they must be protected and “in this sense, the responsibility of parents is enormous. Who can be sure that their child will not be among the few serious cases of Covid? I would like every mother and father to ask themselves this question. We had the enormous and unexpected luck of finding vaccines capable of protecting us in less than a year. Not taking this opportunity is senseless “, he says. Thanks to the vaccinations on the little ones, we look with more optimism even in September, when schools will reopen. Is it possible to imagine that we no longer have to use the mask in the classroom? “It is possible. On the other hand, the scientific authorities are already re-evaluating the use of masks for the next summer months,” he says.