Vaccination is a medical decision, and the practice of medicine involves evaluating risk versus benefit, with the overarching ethos that physicians must first do no harm.

In the context of marketed COVID-19 vaccines still under clinical trials, the question of risk versus benefit is ramping up as countries evaluate whether to approve COVID vaccination in children.

The initial narrative regarding COVID-19 vaccines was that priority ought to be placed on those most vulnerable to death or serious illness from the virus.

None of the vaccines still in the experimental phase have been proven to stop the transmission of COVID-19, while manufacturers report high effectiveness in reducing the risk of severe illness and death.

When evaluating whether children ought to be vaccinated for COVID-19, physicians have pointed to four key factors to consider.

Those factors are whether the marketed vaccine has been proven safe; whether the risk of severe illness or death in children warrants exposure to potential risks of vaccination; whether children pose a significant risk in transmitting COVID-19; and whether it has been demonstrated that herd immunity can be achieved without vaccinating children.

RISK OF DEATH OR SEVERE ILLNESS IN CHILDREN 

There have been no reported cases of pediatric death from COVID-19 in The Bahamas thus far.

Pediatricians Perspective previously interviewed advise that throughout the entire pandemic, there have been four children presenting with symptoms of multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C), all of whom have since fully recovered.

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