Covid mild for most children, but don't expose them to it, says Niac chief

Dr Karina Butler, chair of the National Immunisation Advisory Council, said in terms of concerns over unvaccinated children attending schools, Covid “is different from other infections in that for the majority of them it is a mild infection, and that may contribute to their overall immunity ongoing”.

Covid-19 is a mild 'infection' in the majority of children and "may contribute to their overall immunity" but that doesn't mean they should be exposed to the virus, the Oireachtas health committee has heard.

Dr Karina Butler, chair of the National Immunisation Advisory Council (Niac), said in terms of concerns over unvaccinated children attending schools, Covid “is different from other infections in that for the majority of them it is a mild infection, and that may contribute to their overall immunity ongoing”.

Asked to clarify that statement, Dr Butler said she “wouldn’t wish to be misinterpreted”. 

“It is not a good thing for children to get this infection,” she said.

There is the potential for serious illness, and for post-Covid inflammatory syndrome. Covid is not something that you want to expose your children to.

The meeting heard that testing in children aged between five and 12 has trebled in recent weeks, with a doubling in positive cases as a result.

There have been 40 new outbreaks in schools since last Saturday, presenting 191 new cases, the meeting heard.

Regarding long Covid, Dr Butler said that is a phenomenon that appears to be “far less prevalent in children”.

The chief medical officer, Dr Tony Holohan, meanwhile said he is “broadly optimistic” that Ireland will be able to remove the last of its Covid-19 restrictions on October 22.

Asked before the committee to clarify his statement that further restrictions cannot be ruled out, Dr Holohan said: “Given our experience of the past 18 months how could we rule anything out?”

The meeting heard that Ireland is tracking ahead of the optimistic scenario set out by Nphet’s modelling team ahead of the surge in the Delta variant earlier in the summer.

“We don’t see anything emerging on the international scene in terms of a concern over a new variant,” he said.

However, he said that the removal of restrictions in October remains dependent on Ireland matching the five requirements that Nphet has set to that end, one of which is for 90% of the population aged over 16 to be fully vaccinated.

Dr Holohan said at present that figure is above 88%. 

“We need to keep pushing on as much as we possibly can.”

Professor Nolan said that Ireland is “past the peak of infection” in terms of the Delta variant, and that “cases should decline from here on”.

In terms of long Covid, Dr Butler said that there appears to be two broad strains of the disease — one which sees a body affected by issues such as kidney problems, the other with more “vague” symptoms such as fatigue and brain fog.

She said the best research at present indicates an average recovery period from the illness of between eight and 12 weeks.

Deputy chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn said that, ahead of flu season this winter, the key things to be emphasised by Nphet will be hand hygiene and the need to “remove ourselves from any place of activity if we feel even the slightest onset of a cold or flu”.