With Bharat Biotech-developed Covaxin receiving a recommendation for approval for use among children over two years of age, India is now the only country to have a Covid-19 vaccine for every age group. No other vaccine has so far been approved for infants and young children. Pfizer and BioNTech had announced last month that their vaccine had elicited robust responses among children of 5 to 11 years of age in phase 2/3 trials, but that is yet to be approved. As of now, only three vaccines are available for the 12-18 age bracket, those developed by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, and another by Zydus which was cleared by India in August.
The formal clearance to Covaxin for younger children brings in another layer of protection against Covid-19. This is crucial at a time when schools and colleges are opening up, and there is a discernible rise in the number of infections amongst children, even those below 10 years of age. As reported by this newspaper, the proportion of children in the new infections has been much higher in July and August this year, compared to any time earlier in the pandemic. This is not surprising given the fact that a large proportion of the adult population could have developed some immunity, either because of a prior infection, or due to vaccination. Reassuringly, there is no perceptible rise in serious cases amongst children.
