A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that vaccination against COVID-19 for children in the 15 to 18 age group will start from January 3, a senior epidemiologist at AIIMS termed the decision “unscientific” saying it will not yield any additional benefit.
Dr Sanjay K Rai, who is also the president of the Indian Public Health Association, said before implementing the decision, data from countries that have already started vaccinating children should be analysed.
This will reduce the worries of children going to schools and colleges and their parents, and boost the fight against the pandemic, he said, adding that the move is also likely to aid in normalisation of teaching in schools.
“I am a great fan of PM Modi for his selfless service to nation and taking right decisions at right time. But I am completely disappointed with his unscientific decision on children vaccination,” Dr Rai said in a tweet tagging the Prime Minister’s Office.
When it comes to children, the severity of infection is very low and according to data available in the public domain, only two deaths per million population have been reported.
“In this section (children), 15,000 (people) are not dying and keeping in mind the adverse effects also, if you do the risk and benefit analysis, then the risk is more than the benefits based on the available data,” PTI quoted Dr Rai as saying.
In his address to the nation, the Prime Minister had said the government was following scientific advice in the vaccination drive against COVID-19.
