Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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1872. To ask the Minister for Health the research that has been carried out on the benefits of vaccinating children from five to 11 years of age; the research that has been carried out on the incidents of myocarditis in children in this age cohort that have been vaccinated; and the research that has been carried out on the transmissibility of the omicron variant amongst children of this age who have been vaccinated. [2178/22]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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On December 7th 2021, the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) recommended that Covid-19 vaccination be offered to all children aged 5-11 years because of the favourable benefit-risk profile of the vaccine. In making its recommendations NIAC indicated that the vaccination of those aged 5 to 11 years is associated with short term, self-limited side effects. No new safety concerns were observed in the clinical trials, with no incidents of myocarditis reported. The number of subjects in the trials does not allow detection of rare or very rare adverse events such as myocarditis and follow-up is ongoing. The NIAC has advised that the decision to offer Covid-19 vaccines to those aged 5 to 11 years is a balance of benefits and risks, informed by ethical considerations

The full NIAC recommendation can be viewed here:

rcpi-live-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/NIAC-Recommendations-on-COVID-19-vaccination-for-children-aged-5-to-11-years.pdf