In an open letter, seven French pediatric societies call for a strengthening of vaccination against influenza and the generalization of vaccination against gastroenteritis in order to better fight against the Covid-19 epidemic.
- Seven learned pediatric societies plead for a generalization of vaccination against influenza and rotaviruses for toddlers.
- They also recommend prioritizing saliva testing over nasopharyngeal PCR testing on children.
- Finally, they are concerned about the lack of “clear and precise” measures in the event of the detection of a case of Covid-19 in a community.
A few weeks before the start of the school year, and while we are witnessing an upsurge in cases of Covid-19 throughout France, pediatricians are mobilizing. In an open letter published online this Wednesday, August 19, seven learned pediatric societies recall that “the risk of contamination by SARS-CoV-2, both in children and in the adults who supervise them, is real” and therefore call for a number of measures to be taken. Among which, a reorganization of the start of the school year. “We can only be worried about the organization of the new school year as it is looming, both in terms of prevention and in terms of child care”write health professionals.
Vaccinate toddlers
Among the recommendations made by pediatricians, that of strengthening vaccination against influenza and generalizing vaccination against rotaviruses, responsible for gastroenteritis, in small infants.
The objective is twofold: first not to “increase the burden of care and ‘the burden’ of health structures by drastically reducing episodes of gastroenteritis in young infants”but also “reduce the frequency in children of opportunities to suspect Covid-19 and its consequences (PCR tests and personal and family eviction measures)”. Indeed, explain learned societies, “15 to 30% of children hospitalized or seen in consultation for Covid-19 have digestive signs, including diarrhea, which makes the differential diagnosis with rotavirus gastroenteritis very difficult […] Vaccinating against these diseases would therefore represent a means of reducing consultations, emergency room visits and hospitalizations at a time when the circulation of SARS-CoV-2 is likely to be intense again.they write.
Prioritize saliva tests
Second recommendation: that of favoring saliva tests over nasopharyngeal PCR tests, “unpleasant”“necessarily repetitive in children” and who have, according to pediatricians, “a modest yield, a certain cost and exposes us to refusals from children and/or parents.”
Pediatric learned societies finally plead for “clear and precise strategies” in the event of screening of a child or an adult for SARS-CoV2 within a community. “To date, the reports that we have are, to say the least, anarchic: schools or crèches have sometimes been closed due to the presence of a single person with a positive PCR, or even positive serology without PCR and before any investigation.”
“If clear and precise strategies are not defined, it seems to us that the start of the new school year risks being chaotic with closures of classes or even schools not justified by health or epidemiological reasons and in any case highly harmful for children. children and their learningworry the signatories.
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