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Child being vaccinated
Photo: Luis Alvarez / Getty Images
"Come on, we will find a treasure" they play this year as a Christmas fairy tale in the St. Pauli Theater, one of my favorite stages.
I recently put tickets for my three children and myself in the online shopping cart when I decided to study the hygiene requirements after all: 2G for visitors from the age of 18, all younger ones do not need vaccination protection or test certificates - and there is no need to wear a mask give, despite a fully occupied house.
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Suddenly I doubted whether it would be risky for the unvaccinated children.
What if there is a corona infected person among the Janosch fans?
The fear of infection bored itself so deep into my head that I refrained from buying it.
For now.
With a heavy heart.
What I felt has been with me permanently for months: I am concerned because, thanks to the vaccination, my husband and I are protected against severe corona disease, but our sons - the little one is four, the twins are seven years old - but not .
I am also frustrated because we have to constantly weigh up what are actually simple everyday decisions: do we send the child to a friend in the afternoon who is attending another school?
What about parent-child gymnastics where nobody wears a mask?
Doubt greets you every day.
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Then tonight breaking news from the US: Advisors to the FDA are recommending emergency approval of the Biontech vaccine for five to eleven year olds.
A glimmer of hope?
I read that children of this age in the US are expected to be vaccinated against the coronavirus from early November.
And then: that approval in Germany for this age group will probably still take some time.
Janosch's world has never felt so far away.
If my children were vaccinated, I could wipe away daily doubts. Great! Simply say "Yes" again when the children introduce one of their many questions with "Can we again ...". Of course we can go to the Winterdom! Of course, you can invite as many children from as many different circles as you want to your eighth birthday. We're throwing a big party!
It would be nice.
I also want nothing more than that my children are well protected.
That they can go to school, learn and play again without a break this winter.
Nevertheless, I do not agree with the calls of some parents that the European approval authority (Ema) and subsequently the Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko) should work faster.
Bring the material?
Not for every price.
In any case, I would like above all that the data be thoroughly evaluated there.
Bring the material?
Not for every price
However, according to Stiko chairman Thomas Mertens, “there is still no data basis for our assessment and recommendation”.
In his opinion, a study with fewer than 3,000 test subjects - as is the basis for the current recommendation of the FDA advisors in the USA - could not capture the risk of rare side effects.
Therefore, Stiko wants to carry out its own data analysis.
The goal: "Weighing up the expected positive effects and the possible undesirable effects of the vaccination very carefully against each other."
It is known that children generally have a lower disease burden from Sars-CoV-2 than adults.
Even if that does not rule out the possibility that a child could be severely affected in the event of a corona infection or suffer long-term consequences such as "pims".
There they are again, the doubts: In Pediatric Inflammatory Multisystem Syndrome, severe inflammatory reactions occur in various organs that require hospital treatment.
A corona infection rarely results in pims, but the highest proportion of these cases is observed in five to eleven year olds.
A fact that could speak in favor of vaccinating this age group.
The scientific knowledge convinced me
I advocate the corona vaccination for children too - but only if it proves to be safe and is recommended by professionals in the country in which we live. This can only happen if sufficient data show that the risks of infection, even in children between the ages of five and eleven, are greater than the risks of vaccination - considering the population living here with all its peculiarities. We don't have the same situation as the US, where more children are overweight and suffer from metabolic syndrome - diseases that promote severe coronavirus.
The risk-benefit analysis can vary from country to country.
Blindly joining the US now would not be a good idea.
My confidence in the vaccination and the associated approval processes would wane if I had the impression that the Stiko was working sloppily, that it would not take it too seriously with its analyzes.
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More study data on children and Corona would help.
It would also help if many more adults were vaccinated against the coronavirus - out of solidarity with our children, for whom no vaccine has yet been approved.
A mask requirement at schools, which has already been lifted in some federal states, could also help.
Certainties are rare at a time like this.
One thing is clear, however: Parents can consider themselves lucky when they have medical specialists by their side who can advise them on the basis of scientifically proven facts.
Over the past eight years, I have often had to rely on doctors prescribing the right medicines for our children.
I admit that it has not always been easy for me to say yes to all the syringes, suppositories and juices.
Ultimately, the scientific knowledge convinced me.
And the more well-founded the medical advice, the better I feel about the decisions we parents so often have to make.