Just 1% of Parents of 5-11 Kids Sought Medical Advice after COVID-19 Shot

On Friday, a report disclosed that only 1% of parents whose children had received the COVID-19 vaccine shot approved for kids between 5 and 11 sought medical treatment or advice because of side effects. This was reported two weeks after Israel had launched its vaccine campaign for that age group. A Macabi survey received a response from 70% of the parents, who disclosed that their kids had only experienced light pain at the site of the injection. One-third of the respondents said that there hadn’t been any pain near or on the injection site. 

Only 1% of the parents got in touch with their family doctors for seeking medical advice after the dose of the vaccine. The survey also discovered that children had experienced fewer side effects, with fatigue and weakness reported by almost 7% of 5-year-old kids, whereas 14% of 11-year-old kids reported the same. It was further disclosed that 10% of the 11-year-olds had also experienced headaches, whereas 5% of the 5 year olds had experienced same. One of Israel’s leading HMO, Maccabi disclosed that of the total children it ensures between the 5 and 11 age group, 20% have either make an appointment for getting vaccination, or have already gotten inoculated. 

Sigal Dadon-Levy, the CEO of Maccabi said that the survey’s results indicate the vaccine is safe and effective. According to the figures published by the Health Ministry on Friday, almost 100,000 young children have gotten vaccinated in Israel so far. The vaccination campaign for the kids was introduced while the country was dealing with the concerns regarding the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus. So far, 35 cases of the new variant have been confirmed in Israel and 52 more are being examined as being suspected of infection by the new variant. 

After the variant was first detected last month in South Africa, it was declared as a ‘variant of concern’ by the World Health Organization. There were 610 new cases of COVID-19 in Israel on Thursday. In recent days, these numbers have gone up and down, but daily infections have not seen a clear rise. Nonetheless, the virus reproduction number, known as the R number, has climbed up steadily in the past week and it has moved beyond 1.1. A value above 1 is an indication that the virus is spreading. According to a report by Hebrew University, there is a clear rise in the pandemic metrics and for the first time after the fourth wave, the infection is spreading across all societal and age groups.

According to health experts, they are unsure of the cause and don’t necessarily blame the Omicron variant for it. Instead, they said that it could be because of school infections, declining immunity and other possible causes. So far, there hasn’t been an increase in hospitalization, which had been feared because of the emergence of the new strain. There has also been a decline in serious cases in Israel and they have gone below the 100 mark for the first time in the last four months.