Fact Check: WHO Did Not Reverse Position on Children and COVID Vaccines | Business

The photo next to the caption is a screenshot of the World Health Organization website with the words “Children should not be vaccinated for now” in red.

The screenshot also shows the next paragraph with the word underlined in red. “There is not yet sufficient evidence for children to use the vaccine against COVID-19 to encourage them to be vaccinated against COVID-19.”

This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and false information in the news feed.

Others, including Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, have spread a similar message on social media about this alleged change in WHO’s stance on the COVID-19 vaccine for children. According to Google Trends data, this topic also dominated the June 22 vaccine-related Google search.

The screenshots posted on Instagram were actually taken directly from the WHO web page and the text has not changed. The purpose of that particular web page is to give general advice on who should be vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccine.

The web page said, “Children should not be vaccinated for now.”

But this was not new guidance from WHO. The organization first posted this guidance on April 8, according to an analysis of web pages through the Internet Archive service Wayback Machine and First Draft, a non-profit organization that analyzes false information on the Web.

When I contacted WHO on June 22 and asked the authorities about the wording of the web pages and whether their position was reversed, the spokesman sent the following statement:

“Children and adolescents tend to have milder illnesses than adults, so unless they are part of a group at high risk of severe COVID-19, than older people, people in chronic health, and health care workers. Even the urgency of vaccination is low.

“We need more evidence about using different COVID-19 vaccines in our children to be able to make general recommendations for vaccination of children with COVID-19.

“The WHO Strategic Advisory Group (SAGE) has concluded that the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine is suitable for use by people over the age of 12; for high-risk children aged 12 to 15 years, other This vaccine may be offered with priority groups. Vaccine trials for children are underway and WHO will update its recommendations when evidence or epidemiological conditions justify a change in policy. ..

“It is important that children continue to receive the recommended pediatric vaccine.”

WHO updated its web page on June 23, replacing the phrase “children should not be vaccinated for now” with the exact phrase sent in the above statement.

Jen Kates, Director of Global Health and HIV Policy at KFF, contacted WHO contacts and this updated language will provide the latest advice from WHO’s June 15 Strategic Advisory Group Experts Meeting. Said it was added to reflect. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine can be given to people over the age of 12.

In a video on June 11, WHO Chief Scientist Dr. Soumya Swaminathan explained why WHO did not prioritize the COVID-19 vaccine for children.

“So today, the reason why WHO says that vaccination of children in June 2021 is not a priority is that children become infected with COVID-19 and spread to others. Despite the potential, the risk is much lower. It can lead to more serious illnesses than older people, “says Swaminasan. “Therefore, when we start prioritizing people who should be vaccinated when vaccine supply is limited in the country, we recommend starting with healthcare workers and front-line workers who are at very high risk of exposure. To get infected. Also, elderly people, people with underlying diseases who are at high risk of developing serious illness. “

Dr. Rachel Vrieman, director of the Earnhold Global Health Institute at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, confirms that the statement on the WHO web page focuses on those who have the highest priority in obtaining the COVID-19 vaccine. Did.

“They aren’t saying that children shouldn’t be vaccinated against COVID, or that vaccines that are currently approved for use in children over the age of 12 aren’t safe,” Vreeman emailed. I am writing in. “The WHO states that vaccination of more adults should be a global priority because older people are at the highest risk of serious complications and death from COVID-19.”

“In the face of great inequality among people who have access to the COVID-19 vaccine worldwide, WHO advises that the highest-risk people, the elderly, be the first priority,” Vreeman wrote. I will.

It is also important to consider that the supply of COVID-19 vaccine, as in other parts of the world, is no longer restricted in the United States. Therefore, the need to distribute the vaccine only to health care workers or the elderly or those at high risk of severe illness does not apply here. Keep in mind that WHO is a global organization and its recommendations need to be applicable worldwide.

In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that everyone over the age of 12 be vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccine. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is approved for emergency use in the United States in children aged 12-18 and adults of all ages.

The American Academy of Pediatrics also recommends that children over the age of 12 be vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccine.

So is Vreeman, a pediatrician.

“As a US pediatrician, I sincerely recommend that children over the age of 12 be vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccine as soon as possible in an environment where the COVID-19 vaccine is widely available,” Vreeman wrote. I will. Email. “The data show that the vaccine is safe and effective for this age group and we want to prevent the risk that COVID-19 poses to children.”

Instagram posts and other posts across social media have erroneously claimed that WHO has recently reversed its position on children vaccinated with COVID-19 because the vaccine is “poisonous” and dangerous to children. ..

WHO first posted guidance on children and COVID-19 vaccination on April 8. The guidance included the phrase, “Children should not be vaccinated at this time.” However, the wording is that vaccine supplies are limited in many countries, and for healthcare workers, front-line workers, the elderly, and people with high-risk medical conditions, children are other Need the first dive that was a reflection of the WHO that vaccination should not be prioritized over groups.

There is no evidence that WHO has “reversed” its position on childhood COVID-19 vaccination, as claimed in a viral social media post. WHO updated its guidance on June 23 to reflect one meeting of the Scientific Advisory Group, which stated that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine could be safely administered to children over the age of 12. But this happened after those misleading posts first appeared.

We rate this claim as false.

Kaiser Health News is a national news room that produces detailed journalism on health issues. KHN, along with policy analysis and polling, is one of the three major operations programs of the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF). KFF is a donated non-profit organization that provides the public with information on health issues. This story was co-produced with PolitiFact.

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