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LAST UPDATE | 8 Dec 2021
HEALTH MINISTER STEPHEN Donnelly has accepted recommendations from the National Immunisation Advisory Council (NIAC) that children aged 5-11 be offered the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine.
The recommendations were issued by NIAC and endorsed by Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan, a statement from the Department of Health said.
The Pfizer vaccine was first approved by the European Medicines Agency for use in children between 5-11 in late November.
NIAC have also “strongly recommended” that children aged 5-11 years who have an underlying condition, who live with a younger child with complex medical needs or who are living with a immunocompromised adult receive the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine.
In the Dáil today, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that vaccines to these groups are recommended to be provided “in parallel” with the booster doses for all age groups currently being provided.
The statement issued by the Department said NIAC also recommended “that vaccination should be offered to all children aged 5-11 years”.
Martin said these vaccines should be offered in parallel with the rollout of boosters to age groups under 40. No date has yet been given for when under-40s will begin to get boosters but the HSE is currently working its way through the age cohorts, with over-50s to be offered appointments from tomorrow.
Donnelly said in this morning’s statement that the move from NIAC was “another positive step forward in our country’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.”
“As the country continues to experience a high incidence of disease, we have seen a significant increase in confirmed cases of COVID-19 in this age group.
“While we know that most children will experience a very mild form of this disease if they pick it up, for a small few, they may become severely ill.
“Extending the possibility of vaccination to this age group offers another layer of protection to our children, and to those around them.”
Speaking to reporters this morning, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said that an information for parents will be rolled out and which will answer any and all questions surrounding the safety and efficacy of the vaccine for children.
He said it is absolutely the choice of parents alone whether they want to have their children vaccinated or not.
An Taoiseach said that public health authorities are to begin working on a plan for the rollout of the vaccines and an information campaign for parents “within a number of days”.
“I think we now need to give time to the Department of Health and the HSE to comprehensively deal with this, they will announce the comprehensive plan along with an information campaign,” he said.
Smaller dose
The EMA’s recommendation asks that children receive the vaccine as part of a two-dose schedule, three weeks apart.
The dose being recommended is also smaller compared to the dose received by anyone over the age of 12, with children between 5-11 set to get a 10 µg dose compared to a 30 µg dose.
In a statement by the EMA when it approved the vaccine for use in those aged 5-11, they said that the vaccine showed 90.7% efficacy in preventing symptomatic Covid-19.
“The most common side effects in children aged 5 to 11 are similar to those in people aged 12 and above. They include pain at the injection site, tiredness, headache, redness and swelling at the site of injection, muscle pain and chills. These effects are usually mild or moderate and improve within a few days of vaccination,” the statement said.
“The EMA’s human medicines committee therefore concluded that the benefits of the Comirnaty (Pfizer) vaccine in children aged 5 to 11 outweigh the risks, particularly in those with conditions that increase the risk of severe Covid-19.”
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I suffered from this. Truly, truly painful and debilitating every month. Back in the 80s I went on a course of treatment that was being trialed, a drug called Zolladex. I did it because I was desperate and it was free. I was also very young and naive. It was intrusive and it didn’t work. It strangled one of my ovaries I was warned I may never have children. 30 years later and I watch my daughter suffer from endometriosis. The treatment has not moved on. They could offer my daughter nothing except the “pill”. This could mean girls taking the pill for maybe 20 years in order to avoid pain. I’ve often wondered if men suffered from endometriosis would a cure have been discovered.
Very well written , the worst condition ever as nothing really anyone can do to help. Very little understanding of the condition with the majority believing it’s just a painful period when it can actually mean severe pain 3 weeks out of 4 and constant nausea , bloating , migraines , muscle pain , sciatica , painful bowel movements and emotional implications.
I believe if men had it no way would we not know the cause and surgery would definitely not be the only way to diagnose. Having lived with this no man would just take a painkiller and keep going .
We need to find a cure and make more awareness even in schools as majority starts experiencing symptoms then, as I did age 11 diagnosed age 27
@Lynn: men die younger, men have much higher rate of suicide, men have a much higher rate of homelessness……so what exactly is your point here?, I am sick and tired of listening to women who think they are getting a raw deal, the facts are they are not getting anything of the sort…..men have it worse in many many areas.
@Peter Hughes: He’s right ladies. We shouldn’t be concerned about a better diagnosis rate for a prevalent disease when men have problems too. Those should be addressed first and foremost because, as we all know, multiple things can’t be done at once. We really need to learn our place!
@Peter Hughes: @Peter Hughes: I’m sorry for complaining about my debilitating condition. I’m sorry that I have to go through this EVERY month for 30+ years. I’m sorry men can’t experience the pain, the discomfort, the sanitary issues, the cost of sanitary requirements, the intrusive procedures by numerous doctors and nurses and I’m sorry that women never get to experience homelessness, suicide, rape, absent fathers and man flu.
@2thFairy: Your mind is twisted against men, this has zero to do with men and somehow you managed to point the finger at men…..you need help.
@2thFairy: well said. We are not saying men don’t have problems we are simply saying if they had this condition no way would it have no known cause , no cure , no adequate treatments that don’t cause more side effects and can actually worsen the condition. It is a fact this is a woman’s disease a woman’s problem.
@Peter Hughes: stop acting as if men’s health isn’t taken more seriously. It is. When they suffer from pain, they aren’t shooed away with no help as women often are.
For most of medical history, the male body has been considered the “default” and even trials and tests done to treat women for issues affecting their reproductive organs were done on men. Who, as I’m sure you’re aware, don’t have them.
You can cry and claim to be the victim here but no woman is going to fall for it. She will see it for the blatant attention seeking and issue diverting tripe that it is.
You can deny how reality works all you like but it doesn’t change facts. Men do not have it worse. BTW more women attempt suicide but succeed less often than men.
This is an article about endometriosis. It is a condition that only women suffer from so it makes obvious sense that women will comment here about the pain and suffering it causes.
This condition is rarely bright up as a topic for discussion.
Unfortunately some men think we have no reason to even broach the subject at all.
@2thFairy: some men are so entitled they throw a hissy fit whenever the topic isn’t about them.
Doctors are mostly men so they just dont care my daughter at 23 years of age not married some years ago was told to have a baby and she would be ok by a top consultant in the coombe hospital
@Margaret Kane: I’ve been told that too by multiple doctors, as recent as a few years ago.
@Rei: female doctors mostly as well
I suffered bad with my periods starting in my teens, I didn’t realise that there was something wrong with me. I thought most women had such painful periods but I wasn’t strong enough to deal with them. Other women dismiss it as an excuse or moaning, doctors tell you to take some ibuprofen and a use a hot water bottle. I remember thinking as a 16 year old “how am I supposed to bring a hot water bottle to school with me?”. Instead I opted for those stick on heat patches for your back. Now in my late 20s I’m crippled by it. I waited two years for an app at the Combe after being told a few years previously that I probably had endometriosis at the well woman clinic. My doctors told me the same after a few USS showed nothing wrong. “it’s probably endometriosis, but you’re still young so don’t worry.”
Don’t worry? But there’s no treatment.
When I finally got to my long awaited appointment, I was told “yeah it’s probably endometriosis, get the coil or go on the pill.” and given some NSAIDs. That’s it, there’s nothing else they can do besides surgery, which probably won’t even help much and is likely to leave me infertile due to scarring.
While I feel like my country doesn’t care much about female health problems, the issue is there’s not actually much they can do to help. The treatments don’t exist.
There are so many women out there with the same story and just as many women that go undiagnosed as they think they just have to live with bad period pains. I was in my early twenties when I got the same wishy washy diagnosis and already I had lost an ovary.
I recognised the same condition in my daughter when she was 11 years old and I was shocked and horrified when I took her to the doctor to discover that 20 years later there was absolutely no advancement in treatment.
I chose not to put her through the endless intrusive prodding and operations because she was so young and there was still no cure except the pill.
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