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The Swedish Public Health Agency assesses that the medical benefit for the individual child with a general vaccination against covid-19 for children aged 5–11 is currently small. Therefore, the authority for the spring term 2022 does not recommend a general vaccination of children under 12 years of age in Sweden.

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We will continue to follow the issue. We are constantly assessing the state of knowledge and the development of the pandemic in Sweden and the rest of the world, and a new position will be taken on this issue before the autumn term, says Karin Tegmark Wisell, Director General of the Swedish Public Health Agency.

A general vaccination from the age of 5 is also not expected to have a major effect on the spread of infection at present.

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As before during the pandemic, children are at a significantly lower risk of developing severe covid-19 disease compared with adults. In general, the younger the child, the lower the risk. Since the end of October 2021, the Swedish Public Health Agency has been recommending general vaccination against covid-19 from the age of 12 in Sweden. This is based on the benefit to the individual child.

The covid-19 vaccine is approved for children from the age of 5, and has been recommended since the end of December for children between the ages of 5 and 11 who are particularly susceptible to respiratory infections.