MOSCOW, Feb 17 (NNN-TASS) — Immunity to COVID-19 in children can last for up to nine months, Yevgeny Timakov, a specialist in infectious diseases and vaccines, said on Thursday.
“Scientific studies indicate that immunity in children lasts longer than in adults <…>. Whereas adults’ immunity weakens in six months, children’s immunity lasts for nine months,” he said.
According to the expert, the older a child is the more antibodies he or she develops. “Younger children develop less antibodies, but they have other factors of protection. They already have T-cell immunity,” he noted.
In his words, vaccination of children is not a top priority task today because they have developed natural immunity to the coronavirus infection after the disease. So, he noted, it is necessary to immunize only those children who did not have COVID-19.
On Nov 24, the Russian health ministry registered the Sputnik M coronavirus vaccines meant for adolescents aged from 12 to 17. It is a two-dose vaccine, the interval between which is 21 days. The ministry stressed that vaccination of teenagers from 12 to 15 will only be conducted with the written consent of their parents or caretakers or with voluntary consent for those aged 15 and older.
On Jan 24, the health ministry issued a license for clinical tests of a Gamaleya Center’s coronavirus vaccine in children aged from 6 to 11. The tests involving 2,200 children will be organized at three medical establishments in Moscow. According to the Center’s director Alexander Gintsburg, the tests will take three and a half months.
Meanwhile, Alexander Gintsburg, director of the Gamaleya Center, said there have been no complaints about
negative side effects after the use of the Sputnik M coronavirus vaccine in adolescents aged from 12 to 17.
“There have been no complaints, absolutely no,” he said.
According to Gintsburg, it is planned to expand Sputnik M production. “Generium (a Russian pharmaceutical company) will begin the production of this vaccine in two weeks and we will be able to meet the entire demand
for the vaccine for this age group. As far as I remember, some 60,000 [doses] have been used by now, or 60% of hat has been supplied,” he said. — NNN-TASS