Is It Important To Apply the Vaccine? Responds the Pediatrician Carlos Chacón

What will happen when all this happens? It is a question that still circulates from stage to stage, especially when Colombia began the vaccination plan. A year ago, around this time, the world closed in and completely isolated itself to face a latent threat, which affected everyone on the planet.

On March 6, 2020, the first case of COVID-19 was known in the country, since then, and unfortunately, the cases continued to increase, and various situations and circumstances have arisen, which motivate reflection on the complete eradication of the virus.

A year later, the country began the vaccination plan, and despite the setbacks that have occurred in some regions, and as they say colloquially, a good number of Colombians have already received their vaccine.

But a question that arises in these times of pandemic is what happens to the child population, could it be that children are strong and endure everything?… Or really, how vulnerable can they be to this disease? How effective can the vaccine be for them?

So far the vaccine is only recommended for people over 16 years of age, for children it is not fully approved. However, studies are being carried out to verify and determine that it is really effective, and this is explained because in the initial tests it was not minors were taken into account.

In this sense, Dr. Carlos Arturo Chacón Montañez, a doctor from the National University and a specialist in Pediatrics explains some of the reasons why he did not take children into account for the COVID-19 vaccine.

He is very optimistic about the COVID-19 vaccine. "My recommendation is that they apply the vaccine." He also recommended that parents be calm because the vaccine is safe and will help children have antibodies to protect themselves from the virus.

“It was not started by vaccinating children, because the vaccine was manufactured and the trials were done in adults, in children they have not been tested, and it was not known how it would work. But, when it is known with certainty, the minors will be vaccinated immediately.”

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The health professional adds that it is very important to vaccinate children in order to acquire antibodies against various viruses, this allows them to have very good defenses and prevent serious diseases.

If in Colombia some of the vaccination phases have already been completed, then at what point would the children be prepared to receive the vaccine? According to the pediatrician Chacón, this would occur when the corresponding tests have been done and the safety is one hundred percent. cent split its use.

“This disease does not affect minors significantly, but that does not mean that they are not infected and do not have symptoms. What happens is that the percentage is low and it is not so lethal, but they are equally susceptible.”

Regarding the efficacy that the vaccine would represent in children, the pediatrician Chacón pointed out that all this depends on the manufacturer -so far there are data in the adult population- that, for example, the Pfizer vaccine is 95 percent, and on this same route is Moderna. If this occurs in adults, he insists that with children the results would be very similar.

Referring to the possible effects in the child population, Dr. Chacón explained that they would be the same as in adults: pain at the site of the application, chills, muscle, and joint pain, headaches, general malaise. "Transient symptoms that last between 24 and 48 hours and disappear."

Carlos Chacón is aware that nowadays there are many anti-vaccine movements, which have expressed that children are not vaccinated, a statement with which he does not agree, because “vaccines have shown that over time they are useful to reduce infant mortality.”