Covid-19 coronavirus: Covid vaccine available to under-5s with high health risks from today

A Covid-19 vaccine is now available for under five-year-olds with health complications in New Zealand.

The Ministry of Health said children aged between 6 months and 4 years and who had a higher risk of severe disease if they caught Covid could get access to the paediatric vaccine from today.

It was not being offered to all under-fives because this age group had a low likelihood of severe illness from contracting Covid-19, the ministry said.

Director of the National Immunisation Programme Astrid Koornneef said the vaccine contained a lower dose of mRNA that had been specially formulated for this age group and has been approved by Medsafe.

The vaccine would be administered in three doses. A second dose will be given three weeks after the first dose, and a third dose another eight weeks later.

It was recommended that children who have had Covid-19 wait three months from their positive test to get vaccinated.

The Covid-19 Vaccine Technical Advisory Group recommended to the ministry that the vaccine be approved for children who are severely immunocompromised or who have complex or multiple health conditions which increased the risk of severe disease from Covid-19.

“Those children who are not in any of the high-risk categories have a low likelihood of severe illness from Covid-19 meaning they won’t need, or be eligible for, the vaccine,” Koornneef said.

Dr Amanda Kvalsvig, an epidemiologist at University of Otago in Wellington, welcomed the extension of the vaccine to under-fives but questioned why it was not offered to all families as it was in the United States.

She said that 1 to 4-year-olds had the highest rates of infection in New Zealand during the Omicron waves in 2022.

A study of respiratory infections in New Zealand found that between February and October 2022, three in four children in this age group tested positive for Covid-19.

“This very high infection rate suggests that parents of young children, in particular those that attend daycare and kindergarten, may be disappointed not to have this opportunity to protect their children,” Kvalsvig said.

She acknowledged that serious outcomes from Covid were rare at this age, but because the disease spread so easily among them the impacts could be high.

“US figures show that Covid-19 infection is the 7th-highest cause of death in the 1-4 year age group, ahead of many other conditions that children are vaccinated against as a matter of routine.”

Ministry of Health data shows there have been 202,289 positive cases in the 0-9 years old bracket and three deaths.

Medsafe has also given provisional approval for the use of bivalent vaccines in New Zealand. The vaccines target the original strain of the virus from 2020 and more recent Omicron variants.

The Covid-19 Vaccine Technical Advisory Group is now preparing advice for the Government on whether and how these bivalents may be used.

Parents and caregivers can book the under-5 vaccine by calling Healthline on 0800 28 29 26 or by visiting BookMyVaccine.nz.

It is available for tamariki with the following health conditions:

• Chronic lung disease including bronchiectasis, cystic fibrosis, BiPAP for OSA (excluding mild, controlled asthma)
• Complex congenital heart disease, acquired heart disease or congestive heart failure
• Diabetes (insulin-dependent)
• Chronic kidney disease
• Severe cerebral palsy (or severe neurodisability, including neuromuscular disorders)
• Complex genetic, metabolic disease or multiple congenital anomalies, for example trisomy 21/Downs Syndrome
• Primary or acquired immunodeficiency
• Haematologic malignancy and/or post-transplant (solid organ or HSCT in last 24 months)
• Those on immunosuppressive treatment, including chemotherapy, high-dose corticosteroids, biologics or DMARDS.