European Union warns against suspension of children vaccination amid coronavirus pandemic

A woman and children hold a kite in the Parco Sempione park on May 4, 2020 in Milan as Italy starts to ease its lockdown aimed at curbing the spread of the COVID-19 infection, caused by the novel coronavirus. (Photo by AFP)
The European Union has raised the alarm about a decision by some European countries to suspend vaccination of children during the new coronavirus pandemic, stressing that the move could cause serious problems.

“It is very clear we will get pockets of people, children, who have not been vaccinated,” Andrea Ammon, director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), told EU lawmakers on Monday.

Declining to name any countries, Ammon said most European countries were still providing children with some of the essential vaccination to combat such diseases as measles and poliomyelitis, but warned that some other countries have suspended all vaccinations during the pandemic.

The novel coronavirus, which causes a respiratory disease known as COVID-19, first erupted in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year before growing into a global pandemic, which has so far infected more than 3.5 million people and killed over 66,000 throughout the world.


German study: 1 in 5 coronavirus infected asymptomatic

Meanwhile, a German study carried out by researchers from the University of Bonn on Monday showed that one in five people infected with the new coronavirus in the country had displayed no symptoms.

The research study tested 919 people in 405 households in Germany’s western district of Gangelt, where one of the country’s biggest clusters of contagion had emerged after a carnival attended by an infected couple.

German researchers found that 15 percent of the population in Gangelt had been infected, with a fatality rate of 0.37 percent.

Projecting this nationwide, the study estimates that 1.8 million people across Germany may have already contracted the disease, which is 10 times more than what is reflected in data of officially confirmed cases.

"The fact that apparently every fifth infection progresses without noticeable disease symptoms suggests that infected persons who shed the virus and who can thereby infect others cannot be reliably identified on the basis of recognizable disease symptoms," said Martin Exner, head of Bonn University's Institute for Hygiene and Public Health and co-author of the study.

"Every supposedly healthy person we encounter can unknowingly carry the virus. We must be aware of this and act accordingly," he added.

German researchers said the results of the study, which have yet to be peer reviewed for publication in a scientific journal, underlined the importance of maintaining a social distance as well as basic hygiene practices to contain the flu-like pathogen.

Germany has begun easing restrictions to halt transmission of the virus, allowing shops, schools and religious institutions to reopen.

UK among states not yet on virus downward slope: EU

Also on Monday, the head of the ECDC contradicted the British government's line on the pandemic and said the United Kingdom was one of the five European countries yet to begin a downward trend in its coronavirus outbreak.

Britain has recorded nearly 190,000 coronavirus cases and almost 28,500 deaths as of May 4.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who returned to work last week after himself being seriously ill from COVID-19, said on Thursday Britain had past the peak and was "on the downward slope.”


Rejecting Johnson’s comment, Ammon told EU lawmakers that Bulgaria was still recording an increase in cases, while for Britain, Poland, Romania and Sweden the agency had seen "no substantial changes in the last 14 days.”

The head of the ECDC said there was a drop in infection cases for all other European countries and, "as of Saturday, it appears that the initial wave of transmission (in Europe) has passed its peak.”

The ECDC monitors all 27 EU member countries plus Britain, Norway, Liechtenstein and Island.