No need for Covid-19 vaccine for kids, say doctors and academics

Awaken India Movement and Doctors for Truth send letter to PM opposing jabs for children; they allege there is complete disregard for science while deciding COVID measures, and there is no scientific basis behind the prediction of more kids getting affected in third wave

While many are waiting to know when children will get Covid-19 vaccines, there is a group of citizens who are opposing the move. A letter, with over 1,000 signatures, has been sent to the Prime Minister of India against vaccination for children. The signatories include doctor and academicians among others. They alleged there is complete disregard of science while deciding Covid measures.

They stated that in light of the fact that the majority of children in the country have recovered from Covid-19 and around 56% of them have antibodies without developing any severity, there is no scientific basis behind the prediction that children are to be affected more in the third wave, and hence they sought that policies be framed accordingly. AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria and The Indian Academy of Paediatrics have also given statements to this effect. 

“Why is there a push to vaccinate children despite there being no threat to them and plenty of evidence in favour of naturally acquired immunity,” questioned the letter which quotes several virologists and epidemiologists. It further stated, “On one hand our children have already acquired immunity post-Covid infection and on the other hand these experimental vaccines, wherever they are rolled out, are not found to be safe enough; so, it is totally irresponsible and unethical of us to go ahead with any vaccine roll out for children.”

The letter sent to the PM is a joint effort by Awaken India Movement and Doctors for Truth who have been taking up several topics against the policies adopted by the administration about Covid-19, over the past one year. Dr Maya Valecha, a gynecologist from Gujarat, said, “As advised by WHO, testing and tracing are not useful in a community when a large portion of the community is already infected, which is the case in our country as shown by recent sero surveys. Our analysis of the data clearly shows that even the infectiousness of the Delta variants has not been proven by the data. Inexplicably, the percentage of Delta variants was shown to increase from 53.9 per cent in April to 83.3 per cent in July, whereas the number of cases started declining by mid-April and touched the baseline by end of May. Increase in percentage of Delta variants had no effect on increase in cases,” said Dr Valecha.

Nisha Koiri from Awaken India Movement, a naturopath by profession and a mother, said, “There are no clinical trials of vaccination for children. How do we know that it is really going to help? In fact, ill-effects of vaccinations, even in adults, have been reported much in the media. This definitely raises concerns.”

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