The Ministry of Health’s Rachel Mackay, Group Manager, Operations, National Immunisation Programme, argued there was plenty of evidence that vaccinating children was the right way to go and stressed that it’s not compulsory.
“COVID vaccination for children in New Zealand is an entirely voluntary decision for parents to make, backed by robust and publicly available information,” she told Newshub.
“Medsafe granted provisional approval for a version of the Pfizer vaccine for children in December, following a robust review process of the data provided by Pfizer, which has been trialled in this age group overseas.
“The United States has approved and rolled out millions of doses in this age group, and other countries including Australia, Canada and Israel as well as the European Union have authorised its use in children aged 5-11 years.
“The vaccine for 5-11 year-olds has been through clinical trials with children in this age group. In general, the side effects that were reported were mild, didn’t last long, and were similar to side effects from other routine vaccines. These side effects are also reported to be similar to those experienced by older age groups.
“Medsafe only grants approval for a vaccine or medicine once it is satisfied that it has met stringent standards for quality, safety and efficacy.”
The Ministry of Health has already been forced to debunk claims that children at a North Shore vaccination clinic were collapsing after receiving the vaccine.
The Centre for Disease Control in the United States published an interim safety report following administration of 8 million doses in this age group, which has shown some encouraging results.
Results from the trial of the vaccine (mentioned earlier) in children aged 5 to 11, who were given two doses 21 days apart, show it was safe.
The trial took place from March 24 to April 14 last year, with 50 American children in phase 1. It was then expanded to 2268 kids across 81 sites in the United States, Spain, Finland, and Poland for phase 2-3.
The observed vaccine efficacy was 90.7 percent.
