ASID Special Interest Groups support ATAGI advice on COVID-19 vaccinations for children aged 6 months to <5 years old in Australia.
ASID Special Interest Groups support ATAGI advice on COVID-19 vaccinations for children aged 6 months to <5 years old in Australia
The Australian and New Zealand Paediatric Infectious Diseases Group (ANZPID) and the Vaccination Special Interest Group (VACSIG) of the Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases (ASID) support the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation.
(ATAGI) advice on currently available COVID-19 vaccinations for 6-month to <5 year old children in Australia, following their review of the risk benefit profile of the currently available vaccines to protect against SARS-CoV-2 in this age group.
A paediatric formulation of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine (Spikevax) received provisional approval from the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) on 19 July 2022. ATAGI provided recommendations1 for use of this vaccination on 3 August 2022.
ANZPID Chair Dr Brendan McMullan and VACSIG Chair Prof Fiona Russell also stressed the importance of providing COVID-19 vaccinations to children in this age group with severe immunocompromise, disability, and those with complex and/or multiple health conditions which increase the risk of severe COVID-19.
Data from Australia, Israel, Canada and the UK have confirmed children aged 6 months to <5 years old are least likely to require hospitalisation due to COVID-19. ‘The majority of children who are hospitalised due to COVID-19 have underlying medical conditions, including those specified in ATAGI’s recommendations. In Australia, data indicates that many children have already been infected with the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant of concern. Recent studies in children have found that prior Omicron infection may not prevent reinfections but is likely to reduce the risk of severe disease with reinfections in the future,’ said Dr McMullan and Prof Russell.
Clinical trials have revealed that the currently available COVID-19 vaccine for this age-group, Moderna, has modest protection against SARS-CoV-2; and data regarding population vaccine effectiveness in this age group are not yet available. In the clinical trials of Moderna vaccination in children <5 years, up to 1 in 4 children experienced fever. Side effects from the vaccine were more frequently reported in children who had previously been exposed to COVID-19, and data suggests a large proportion of children in Australia have already been infected, so there may be a greater risk of generally mild adverse reactions following vaccination. Fevers in young children may result in investigations, however, and occasionally rare complications such as febrile convulsions, thus the risk/benefit analysis of currently
1 https://www.health.gov.au/news/atagi-update-following-weekly-covid-19-meeting-3-august-2022 available vaccines was carefully considered by ATAGI. As initial vaccine availability may limit access, it is important that children with comorbidities are prioritised for protection against severe COVID-19 disease
ANZPID and VACSIG support ATAGI’s commitment to review ongoing efficacy and safety data for COVID-19 vaccination in this age group, including consideration of future vaccines which may have a higher efficacy. ANZPID and VACSIG will also continue to review and provide updated statements as new data becomes available. We also continue to support efforts to provide equity in access to COVID-19 vaccines for eligible persons and other vaccines on the National Immunisation Program Schedule.