[GTranslate]Pfizer and Moderna have started testing their vaccines on children from 12 years of age and hope to have the results of the trial by the summer: according to New York Times (read here: Covid Vaccines for Kids Are Coming, but Not for Many Months), the two pharmaceutical companies could later start testing on children even younger. Johnson & Johnson, Novavax, and AstraZeneca also have similar projects, but they are at a less advanced stage than Pfizer and Moderna.
Meanwhile, the concern is growing in some areas of the world precisely because of the spread of the virus among children. In Israel, for example, where mass vaccination is underway, the new wave is registering its greatest peak in the age group between 6 and 9 years: the data is perhaps “distorted” by the massive vaccination of adults, which has inevitably lowered the average age of infected people, however, there is the fear that the increase is also due to the spread of the “English variant” which, being more contagious, also affects those who, as children, were almost out of the first wave.
In this sense, there is a real alarm in Africa: the data confirm that 6 out of 10 countries with the fastest growth in coronavirus cases are on the African continent, where the pandemic death rate has risen to 2.5 % exceeding the global average of 2.2%. This is a dramatic worsening compared to previous phases of the virus due to the rapid spread of the highly contagious South African variant. For example, Malawi has the second-highest rate of confirmed case growth in the world, which doubled in 12 days from 9,991 on January 14 to 20,830 on January 26.
And according to the humanitarian organization Save the Children, the lives of thousands of African children are in danger, both due to the increase in infections among them (favored by malnutrition and poor living conditions) and the long-term impact of the pandemic on access to education for children themselves. The longer the children do not go to school, the more difficult it will be for them to return (read here: Save the Children: la vita di migliaia di bambini a rischio in Africa). Research conducted by the organization last year found that 10 million children globally may never go back to school.