The corona vaccines with a further reduced dose only received Europe-wide approval for infants and young children a few weeks ago.

After an examination, the European Medicines Agency recommended at the end of October to approve the Biontech vaccine with a dosage of three micrograms for children aged six months to five years, the adapted preparation from the manufacturer Moderna with 25 micrograms for children from six months to five years.

Both agents are based on the original vaccines against the wild type of the virus and not on the preparations already adapted to the omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5, which have been available as a booster vaccination for adults since September.

However, the Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko) for Germany does not want to make a general vaccination recommendation for infants and young children at the moment.

This emerges from the latest update of the recommendations, which was published on Thursday.

Kim Bjorn Becker

Editor in Politics.

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According to this, parents should only have their small children immunized with one of the new vaccines - preferably with the product from Biontech - if the children suffer from a specific previous illness and their risk of becoming seriously ill in the event of infection with the corona virus is significantly increased.

These include, for example, heart defects, chronic lung and kidney diseases, Down's syndrome, diseases of the nervous and muscular systems and severe obesity.

Premature babies who have not yet reached the age of two should also be vaccinated.

According to estimates by experts, about every tenth small child in Germany should be eligible for a corona vaccination.

A full vaccination with Biontech's preparation consists of three vaccinations, an immunization with Moderna's preparation two.

However, according to official information, Moderna's children's vaccine is not yet available in Germany.

If a child has already suffered from a corona infection, the vaccination series should be reduced by one vaccination.

The limited recommendation only for premature babies and those with basic illnesses is “not an expression of uncertainty about the Stiko” in connection with the vaccines, the chairman of the committee, Thomas Mertens, clarifies.

It is a consequence of the "currently available data".

Accordingly, there are significantly more high-quality studies on the burden of disease after infection than on the consequences of vaccination in young children.

"We have faith in these vaccines, but the data is limited," says pediatrician and Stiko member Martin Terhardt.

There is data from the registration studies, and an estimated one million small children have already been vaccinated in the United States.

Terhardt says: "We don't yet know an awful lot about the risk."

Children are less likely to develop post-Covid syndrome

That is why the Vaccination Commission decided to initially only recommend vaccination for risk groups - there is still the possibility of later extending the recommendation to all children.

Even if there is no recommendation, parents are still able to have their healthy toddler vaccinated against the corona virus.

“There is no legal reason for doctors not to do it,” says Terhardt.

The European approval of the vaccines is decisive for this.