On February 14, 2022, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroichi Matsuno said at a press conference that starting from February 21, each local government will receive a vaccine uniformly distributed by the Japanese government for children aged 5 to 11 years old; areas that meet the conditions for vaccination can take the lead in vaccinating children without waiting until March.
Prior to this, vaccinations had been completed for people over the age of 12 in Japan.
This means that vaccination of children in Japan will be in substantial preparation within this month, and the process of universal vaccination will begin in March. While government vaccines are free and voluntary, deciding whether to vaccinate or not is a dilemma for parents of children – whether to fight or not to get vaccinated is a question.
Theoretically, this vaccine should be given, even to the point where it is urgent. According to the age analysis of the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare on the population infected with the Omikejong virus, the largest number of infected people are young people around 20 years old, children around 10 years old, and young children under 10 years old. Youth in the 20-year-old age group have generally completed two vaccinations, and only those around the age of 10 and under 10 have not been vaccinated and are at high risk of infection. In this case, vaccination appears to be the most immediate barrier to protecting children's health. Therefore, once the news of the successful development of children's vaccines came out, many parents finally relaxed their hearts and waited for the vaccination notice of the local government as if they had taken a reassuring pill.
However, some parents are worried about the efficacy and side effects of vaccines. This is actually a problem that many people worry about - the effect is not large at most a white hit, and once there are any side effects, it is not worth the loss.
The view of "hitting the white" is also based on data research. For the Omiljung virus, preventing infection through vaccination is far less effective than preventing Delta virus. As far as Japan as a whole is concerned, in the sixth wave of the epidemic, as of mid-February, many of the infected people have been vaccinated twice. This reality has made many people question the preventive effect of vaccination.
Even so, it doesn't mean it's completely useless. For example, between 24 January and 30 January 2022, 3 to 20 times more often than every 100,000 people who have been vaccinated are 3 to 20 times more unvaccinated than those who have been vaccinated twice. In other words, people who have been vaccinated twice are infected much less frequently than those who have not been vaccinated. This data and conclusions show the same pattern not only in Japan, but also in the world.
But I have to admit that even if the vaccine is effective, its effect is significantly lower than the standard of publicity and people's expectations. Taking the Pfizer vaccine as an example, two weeks after the second vaccination, the infection prevention effect on the Semikron virus is only 60%, which is a "big discount" compared with the 95% prevention effect advertised when the vaccine was first released, and this discount has been increasing over time. It is not optimistic to say that after half a year, it is difficult to expect the preventive effect of the vaccine. Another vaccine commonly administered in Japan, Modena, has a slightly higher effect on preventing the onset of the disease than the Pfizer vaccine, basically reaching 70%.
That is to say, vaccination is not a one-time solution for the prevention of the virus, and wearing masks, avoiding three secrets, washing hands and disinfection are still indispensable supporting measures.
As for the general concern about the side effects of vaccines, at present, the clinical data obtained worldwide is only the results of the past two years of research, and it is difficult to predict the impact for decades to come. Especially for infants and young children aged 0 to 11 years old, it is impossible to determine whether vaccines will have a profound impact on physical health.
Also inconclusive is the trend of future viruses. The number of new infections in Japan has decreased in recent days, and some experts believe that the infection trend of the Omicron virus is close to the peak. In the future, whether there will be a new mutated virus, and whether the epidemic will stop here or start here, is a common problem left to all mankind.