More and more articles began to appear in the central European media about the high risk of infection with coronavirus in children under 12 years of age.
At the moment, the Green Pass certificate is required for presentation in a number of public places in Europe only for children over 12 years of age, but in Israel, since August 18, the document has become mandatory, including for children aged three years and older.
Pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Moderna have gone even further by launching an experiment to vaccinate newborns against COVID-19.
On August 18, two central Italian newspapers Repubblica and Stampa published an article under the headline “COVID-19, babies and children spread the virus 40 percent more often than adolescents.”
Author Fiammetta Cupellaro cites a study published in the journal Jama Pediatrics by the Canadian public health agency Public Health Ontario.
According to the study, if for children under three years of age the risk of the disease is extremely low, then the ability to transmit a viral disease is 40 percent higher than in older children.
Given that young children tend to stick their fingers in their mouths and then touch them on the face and hands of adults, the results of the study can hardly surprise anyone: the transmission of the virus occurs precisely through saliva.
However, the headline is suggestive of a potential threat from children. Perhaps that is why in recent years it is increasingly possible to meet with a new type of covid phobia – the fear of coming into contact with children.
“80 percent of infections occur in the family, it is clear that babies are contributing to this,” the journalist writes. However, from what has been said, it is not so much the active role of children in the spread of the disease that is obvious, but only the fact that in the family circle the chance of spreading the virus is especially high.
Behind the frightening statistics, there is a simple logic of infection in the family circle with absolutely any disease, be it intestinal flu, coronavirus or the common cold.
On the day the article was published, a government decree entered into force in Israel, according to which all adults and children over three years old are required to present a certificate of vaccination in public places, or, alternatively, a certificate of a past illness or a negative test.
Previously, this requirement was considered mandatory only for adolescents over 12 years old, but due to the worsening epidemiological situation and a sharp increase in the number of cases, the Israeli authorities lowered the age limit.
In the country, 68 percent of the population received at least one dose of the vaccine, and 63 percent of the population completed the full vaccination cycle. Since July 30, elderly people over 60 years old have the opportunity to receive their third coronavirus vaccination. More than 700 thousand people have already taken advantage of this.
Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine developers now recommend vaccination against coronavirus in children aged 12 to 15 who are at high risk.
A similar opinion is shared by the World Health Organization (WHO), which allowed vaccination of minors and children along with adults in the new recommendations.
This age group is already officially vaccinated in the USA, Israel, Italy and Romania. Vaccination of children over 12 years old is being discussed by France, Germany, Great Britain and Poland.