Corona vaccination: Erlangen immunologist currently sees no reason for vaccinations in children

An immunologist from Erlangen currently sees no reason to vaccinate children against the coronavirus.

The immune protection is higher due to a survived infection.

Erlangen - Children and adolescents between 12 and 17 years of age can also apply for a vaccination appointment since June 7th.

Provided your parents agree.

The Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko) has not yet issued a general recommendation on the vaccination of children and adolescents.

So far, she has only advised corona * vaccinations for certain pre-existing illnesses and if there is an increased risk.

Immunologist Prof. Dr.

Christian Bogdan, who is also a member of Stiko, sees it similarly.

Erlangen: Too little data for general corona vaccination recommendations for children

Bogdan is director of the Institute for Clinical Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene at FAU Erlangen * -Nürnberg * and the University Hospital Erlangen.

For a general vaccination recommendation for the corona vaccination * for children, there is simply not enough data with regard to vaccine safety.

"Without a sufficient database, it is difficult to make a recommendation," Bogdan told

.

The main goal of a vaccination recommendation is always to protect the vaccinated person.

"Basically it should be so that a vaccination is always for the benefit and wellbeing of the vaccinated," he says.

According to Bogdan, the extent to which third parties are protected by the respective vaccination therefore plays a subordinate role.

Erlangen immunologist sees no reason for corona vaccinations in children

The Erlangen immunologist currently sees no reason to generally vaccinate children and adolescents against corona, as their risk of getting seriously ill with the virus is extremely low, as

reported by

. He advises that parents sit down with a pediatrician and discuss in confidence whether the risk of a possible corona infection * is higher in the child in question, for example as a result of existing underlying diseases.

Furthermore, the immune protection through surviving an infection is generally broader and more robust than with a vaccination that is currently only directed against a single pathogen component.

"But you cannot derive a universal principle of not vaccinating children and adolescents from this," emphasizes Bogdan.

It always depends on the individual benefit of a vaccination.

Bogdan nevertheless advises that it currently makes more sense to “vaccinate people who are particularly at risk due to their age or previous illnesses”.

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