COVID was far and away the leading cause of death from infectious and respiratory disease in children. This even during a period where vaccines were available for children. Note here too that the other ICD-10 codes are groupings of multiple causes of death, while COVID is for a single pathogen.
Given COVID deaths were underreported as seen with excess deaths, this is an underestimate of COVID's mortality for this age group.
As I noted the other day, SARS-COV-2 caused many more deaths in children than other viruses that we routinely vaccinate against. It is unambiguously clear that children should be vaccinated against the coronavirus.
What is left to learn about it from a safety standpoint? We've vaccinated tens of millions in this age group and its already been over a year for this age group. Vaccine side effects emerge within ~2 months post vaccination. The notable vaccine associated adverse event is myocarditis, which is self limiting and milder than viral myocarditis with complete resolution in under 3 months. There's not a sound argument against vaccinating this age group. There's no reason it can't be part of a mandatory schedule from a health standpoint, only from a socio-political standpoint. It has a stronger case than most of the other vaccines on the schedule and arguably more safety and efficacy data to go with it than most.