Under 12s to be vaccinated from 15 December

CHILDREN aged between five and 11 are to begin receiving their coronavirus vaccine from next Wednesday, it was announced today by the Commission for Public Health in Madrid.

There are 3.3 million children of this age range registered in Spain and under 12s currently represent the group with the highest accumulated incidence rate of Coivd-19. The Commission has approved the vaccination of this cohort to bring down the illness among this group as well as in the family environment, in schools and in the community. They highlighted the importance of protecting children from the illness in its serious phase but also to give them some more defence against future conditions and long covid.

On 25 November the EMA (European Medicines Agency) approved Pfizer’s children’s vaccine Comirnaty for use on five to 11-year-olds, and will be dispensed in different vials from the adult vaccine,

The first batch of pediatric vaccines is expected to arrive in Spain next Monday (13 December) and the distribution among the regions will be proportionate according to the target population, as has been the case throughout the vaccination programme. The commission decided that the vaccination can begin on 15 December and the interval between the two doses will be eight weeks to enable all five to 11-year-olds to have at least one dose as soon as possible.

The individual regions will organise the roll out of their own vaccination programme and, according to a report by news agency, Europa Press, the Valencia Health Department, headed by Ana Barceló, is working on “the best solution” to vaccinate children under 12 “quickly, smoothly and with the least inconvenience for everyone,”

They also reported health department sources as saying that the logistics are being worked on although at the moment they haven’t given more details about how and when the process will begin nor the location, whether it will be in schools, health centres or “vacunodromes”.

In June Valencia Education Minister, Vicent Marzà, argued in favour of schools being the best place for vaccinating students, at that time referring to over 12s, as students would be in a familiar location. However, that option was finally rejected by the health department and students were vaccinated individually in centres across the region.