Florida on Monday became the first state in the country to formally recommend against healthy children getting the COVID-19 vaccine.
“The Florida Department of Health is going to be the first state to officially recommend against the COVID-19 vaccines for healthy children,” Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo announced Monday, according to the New York Post.
Alternatively, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends “everyone ages 5 years and older get a COVID-19 vaccine.”
Florida’s guidance comes after Sweden announced in January the country would not be recommending the vaccine for children ages 5-11, due to kids’ general low risk for the virus and the government finding no “clear benefit” for the jab.
“With the knowledge we have today, with a low risk for serious disease for kids, we don’t see any clear benefit with vaccinating them,” Health Agency official Britta Bjorkholm said, The Daily Wire reported.
“As before during the pandemic, children are at a significantly lower risk of developing severe COVID-19 disease compared with adults,” the nation’s government added in a press release. “In general, the younger the child, the lower the risk. Since the end of October 2021, the Swedish Public Health Agency has been recommending general vaccination against covid-19 from the age of 12 in Sweden. This is based on the benefit to the individual child.”
“Discussions about the decision have been held with the Pediatricians’ Association, the School Medical Association, the National Association of School Nurses, the Child Psychiatric Association, the Swedish Society for Infectious Diseases, vaccine coordinators within the regions, Swedish Municipalities and Regions (SKR), the Medical Products Agency and the Swedish Medical Council (Smer),” the government said.
“Let me just note that we know the science, we know the data and what works and what is the most — what the most effective steps are in protecting people of a range of ages from hospitalization and even death,” Psaki said at press briefing.
“The FDA and CDC have already weighed in in the safety — on the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines for those five and older,” she continued. “The recommendations are vetted transparently through a process for — with a purpose so that parents can have confidence, after consulting with their pediatricians or doctors if they would like, about the safety. But we also know through the data that unvaccinated teenagers are three times as likely to be hospitalized if they get COVID than vaccinated teenagers.”
“So, it’s deeply disturbing that there are politicians peddling conspiracy theories out there and casting doubt on vaccinations when it is our best tool against the virus and the best tool to prevent even teenagers from being hospitalized,” the press secretary slammed.
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Related: Sweden Decides Not To Recommend COVID-19 Vax For Kids Ages 5-11