because children are currently not affected by vaccines

Minors are not included in the vaccination campaign launched by the government in the coming weeks. Few contaminants were not included in clinical studies.

Jean Castex on Thursday asked the French to be “as many as possible” to be vaccinated. The most numerous yes, but this appeal does not concern the little ones. For the moment, children, and more generally minors, are excluded from the coronavirus vaccination campaign.

Those that we have presented for some time as “super contaminants” are not included in the vaccination strategy, particularly due to the low rate of severe cases in this age group and the absence of children in the trials. clinics.

Few contaminants

Since the start of the Covid-19 epidemic, data regarding children and their contagiousness have continued to evolve. At the beginning of the school year, the High Authority for Health gave a reassuring speech, stating that “there were very few or no contaminants among them”.

“Children in elementary school, kindergarten and kindergarten are unlikely to become contaminated and contaminate the adults around them,” Health Minister Olivier Véran also said.

In addition to being low-contaminated, they are also much less likely to develop severe Covid-19. In fact, less than 5% of the serious cases reported in Europe and the UK involve people under the age of 18, according to the High Authority for Health (HAS).

“Children contract the disease very little and are not very involved in its transmission. Teenagers have it a little more often, but it is generally mild. We have reasoned in order of priority, and clearly the young categories do not. Not one. of the most at risk “, confirms a Parisian Professor Daniel Floret, Vice President of the HAS Technical Committee on Vaccinations.

Absent from clinical trials

Unlike the elderly, young people are not a priority audience and therefore were not included in the panel of testers for clinical trials of vaccines.

“Due to the low inclusion (or even exclusion) of pregnant women and those under 18 in ongoing clinical trials, vaccination of these populations is not a priority at this stage,” explains HAS. .

Furthermore, pharmaceutical companies currently do not have the authorization to sell vaccines for children. “To have the right to distribute a vaccine to children under 18, the licensee must have a Marketing Authorization (AMM) required for this age group,” explains Daniel Floret in the columns of Parisian.

The cold workshops

Finally, their absence from clinical trials does not allow to anticipate possible side effects on one’s own immune system, different from that of an adult. But that could change quickly.

On Wednesday, the Pfizer group announced that it had started a test phase of its Covid vaccine – the first in the world to be authorized – on children. Its competitor Moderna quickly followed suit, according to the New York Timesand it should also test its vaccine on teens between the ages of 12 and 17.

But the laboratories move with caution. They fear the consequences for their image of a serious side effect on a minor, even more devastating than on an adult. “Many labs tell themselves they have more to lose than gain,” says a pharmaceutical company executive Parisian.