{"id":95050,"date":"2021-05-27T21:45:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-27T16:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/?p=95050"},"modified":"2021-05-27T21:46:26","modified_gmt":"2021-05-27T16:16:26","slug":"government-wrongly-claims-no-country-vaccinating-children-clarifies-later","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/government-wrongly-claims-no-country-vaccinating-children-clarifies-later\/","title":{"rendered":"Government wrongly claims no country is vaccinating children, clarifies later"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Central government has come under heavy criticism for the mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic and shortage of life-saving vaccines despite India being one of the largest manufacturers. The government released a list<\/a> on May 27, addressing ‘myths’ around the inoculation program. The list essentially tries to make the case that the Centre has been tirelessly working to acquire vaccines from overseas, ramp up domestic production, provide vaccines to states and ensure vaccination of children.<\/p>\n

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tweeted a link to the PIB press release which claims, “As of now, no country in the world is giving vaccines to children.<\/strong> WHO has no recommendation on vaccinating children.”<\/p>\n

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As of now,no country in the world is giving vaccines to children.<\/p>\n

WHO has no recommendation on vaccinating children.<\/p>\n

Trials on children in India are going to begin soon.<\/p>\n

The decision is to be taken by scientists after data is available based on trials. https:\/\/t.co\/Ib7iz5XP6t<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) May 27, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The ‘myths’ were busted by NITI Aayog member Dr Vinod Paul. Railway Minister Piyush Goyal also tweeted<\/a> the part that claims no country in the world has begun vaccinating children.<\/p>\n

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NITI Aayog’s release was also reported by news agency ANI and several other media outlets<\/a>. Twitter handle of PIB India<\/a> and All India Radio News<\/a> also put out a graphic with the same claim.<\/p>\n

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Myth: Centre is not taking any step to vaccinate children<\/p>\n

Fact: As of now, no country in the world is giving vaccines to children. Also, WHO has no recommendation on vaccinating children. There have been encouraging studies about safety of vaccines in children – NITI Aayog (6\/7)<\/p>\n

\u2014 ANI (@ANI) May 27, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Fact-check<\/h4>\n

The claim that no country has rolled out the vaccination program for children is false. It has been widely reported that the United States of America, Canada and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have started vaccinating children. More than 6,00,000 children between the age of 12 to 15 have received<\/a> their first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccination in the US as of May 18.<\/p>\n

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According to a report by The New York Times<\/a>, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had only given emergency authorization to Pfizer-BioNTech for children aged between 12 to 17 in May 2021. Two other vaccines – Moderna and Johnson & Johnson – are likely to be given emergency authorization in the coming months.<\/p>\n

A report by German news agency DW<\/a> states that Canada was the first country to approve a vaccine for children aged 12 and above on May 5. Furthermore, an article<\/a> published by Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) on May 27 stated, “Both Ontario and Quebec are vaccinating children as young as 12, covering all the federally approved age groups. These children have to be age 12 as of their appointment date.”<\/p>\n