Third Wave of COVID-19 to attack Kids under 12 Years, Parents must get their Vaccinations: Dr Devi Shetty

New Delhi: As children are getting infected by the coronavirus, experts say recommend their parents to take vaccines first to protect their children.

Dr Devi Shetty, Cardiac Surgeon, and Chairman & Founder, Narayana Health, said that the Maharashtra government has created a task force to manage COVID-infected sick children during the third wave.

Many people are confused about why children are getting infected so much. Dr Shetty told The Economic Times that the COVID virus mutates to attack as many new hosts as possible. During the first wave, COVID attacked mainly the elderly and spared youngsters. The second wave is attacking a large number of young people. The third wave is likely to attack children since most adults are already infected or immunized.

According to the expert, the Pfizer vaccine already is cleared for use starting at age of 16, which means some high school children could get in line for those shots whenever they become eligible in their area, either because of a medical condition or once availability opens up. Pfizer and Moderna both have completed enrollment for studies of children ages 12 and older, and expect to release the data over the summer.

As per the report, on May 5, Health Canada approved a COVID-19 vaccine for use in children aged 12-15 years. The United States Food and Drug Administration quickly followed suit, and other countries are likely to do the same. Pfizer and Moderna expect to start studies in children 11 and younger later this year.

But Dr Shetty said that the currently available vaccines the world over are largely meant for adults alone. "The only host left for the virus to attack will be children, and we have 165 million of them who are less than 12 years old. Even if we assume that just 20% of them get infected and 5% of the infected need critical care, we need 1.65 lakh paediatric ICU beds. Today we are struggling with about 90,000 ICU beds for adults and less than 2,000 beds for children," he added.

He also said that he loves children, and has spent most of his professional life building one of the largest paediatric cardiac surgical ICUs in the world, during which he confesses to having learnt many lessons.

As a fact, no one can have a two-month-old baby in the COVID ICU without one of the parents. He suggested the parents to take vaccinations as this is the best option for them and their children too.

He said, "How do you send a young mother or father of three children to the COVID ICU without vaccination? Unlike adult COVID ICU patients – who are left to be managed entirely by nurses and doctors – infants and small children cannot be left in the ICU without their parents."

Similarly, mothers need to breastfeed their babies, and someone should be there to ensure that the baby doesn't throw the oxygen mask. The expert said that in cardiac ICU, most kids are partially sedated, and when they are fully alert, they send them to the ward. In the COVID ICU, they cannot sedate the child; they need to breathe well to maintain oxygenation.

Dr Shetty also suggested to quickly vaccinate all the parents of young children with two doses. And this should happen now. "We need to vaccinate at least 300 million young parents in the next few months. The good news is that vaccination protects. Our hospital, which always has over 500 COVID patients, has never seen a single ICU patient who had both doses of vaccine," he added.

Also Read: Over 20 crore vaccine doses given to states free of cost: Centre

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Reference: Times Now