Corona vaccination: Stiko recommends a vaccination dose for all five to eleven year olds who have not yet been vaccinated

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Use the summer: Stiko now recommends vaccinating all children between the ages of five and eleven against Covid-19

Photo: Kamon Seajueng / iStockphoto / Getty Images

It is a "very seriously and responsibly expressed offer to protect five to eleven year olds even better," says pediatrician Martin Terhardt.

"Please check and, if possible, also accept," is the request from the member of the Standing Vaccination Committee (Stiko) to the parents.

In its 20th update of the Covid-19 vaccination recommendation, the committee advises for the first time to vaccinate all children between the ages of five and eleven against Sars-CoV-2 - preferably with the preparation Comirnaty from Biontech, alternatively with Spikevax from Moderna.

Around 22 percent of children in this age group are currently vaccinated once or twice.

Now the Stiko advises the following:

• Children in this age group who have not been vaccinated and do not have risk factors should receive a single dose.

• Five to eleven-year-old children with certain pre-existing conditions are still recommended to have two vaccinations plus one booster vaccination.

• Children with people at risk in the immediate vicinity are advised to have two vaccinations.

The aim of the recommendation is to create good basic immunity in all five to eleven year olds as a basis for further waves of infection, says Terhardt.

Studies from other age groups showed that the best immunity comes when someone has two or three exposures to the antigen in the form of vaccinations and infections.

According to Stiko, this basic protection should now be built up in the summer.

The Stiko assumes that the majority of five to eleven year olds have already had a corona infection.

In the course of the pandemic, such an infection was confirmed by PCR in 48.8 percent of children in this age group, the committee writes.

There is also an unreported number, which is why 70 to almost 100 percent of the children were probably already infected, Terhardt said in a press conference at the Science Media Center on the subject.

Preferably every three months

The single vaccine dose can therefore improve and broaden the immune protection that has already arisen as a result of an infection in the majority of children, so that they are even better prepared if they come into contact with the virus again and their risk of becoming seriously ill is reduced.

If the time of the survived corona infection is known, it is best to vaccinate at intervals of three months.

Vaccination at a shorter interval poses no risk, said Reinhard Berner, Stiko’s external expert on Covid 19 vaccinations for children and adolescents.

It could only be that the "booster effect is then less strong", i.e. that the immune response is then not improved as much by the vaccination.

Berner, who is also a pediatrician, also emphasizes that children who have not already gone through Sars-CoV-2 also benefit from the vaccination.

If new variants made it necessary, the Stiko could also recommend another vaccination for this age group in the coming autumn or winter.

Stiko currently sees only a small additional advantage in a second vaccination for the entire age group.

Terhardt also commented on the benefit-risk assessment by the commission: It had previously been difficult to recommend vaccination to all five to eleven-year-olds because the burden of the disease was so low compared to all other age groups, said the doctor.

Meanwhile, data from several countries shows that the risk of myocarditis after a Comirnaty dose is significantly lower in this age group than in adolescents and young adults, Stiko writes.

From Stiko's point of view, vaccination continues to be a challenge for pediatric and adolescent doctor's practices because the vaccine is supplied by Biontech in ampoules of ten doses each - so several vaccination appointments always have to be bundled.

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