Coronavirus: First children’s vaccines arrive as cabinet gives go-ahead

Cabinet on Monday gave the green light for the vaccination of children aged 5 to 11 against coronavirus, which is scheduled to start on Thursday as a surge in cases was recorded in the particular age group in recent weeks.

The first Pfizer jabs were expected to arrive on Monday and will be distributed to various maternity protection and child welfare centres across the Republic after appointment.

Children belonging to the specific age group will receive 10microgrammes of the Pfizer vaccine instead of 30microgrammes for those aged 12 and older.

Speaking on CyBC earlier in the day, President of the paediatric society of Cyprus Michalis Anastasiades urged parents to vaccinate their children, highlighting the safety of the vaccines.

Health ministry permanent secretary Christina Yiannaki had said last week that child vaccines have shown similar side effects to their adult versions and are usually mild or moderate and improve within days.

Also, a study showed they are 90.7 per cent effective in preventing symptomatic Covid-19, Yiannaki said.

Other countries that started vaccinated children as young as five include some provinces in Austria and Denmark, while Greece, Italy, and Hungary are expected to begin vaccinations by this Wednesday.

In Cyprus, around 30 per cent of total infections in recent weeks concern children aged up to 18.

Between October 4 and December 5 the number of infections has risen in all age groups, “especially the five to 11, where they rose ninefold”, Yiannaki had said.

According to Yiannaki, increasing the vaccination rates was a key parameter in tackling the pandemic.

The latest data provided by the health ministry shows the adult vaccination rate with at least one dose was 85.2 per cent while those who had two jabs reached 81.5 per cent. Just over 66 per cent of eligible people have also had their booster shot.

As regards the 16 to 17 group, 49.2 per cent have had at least one shot while 42.8 per cent had two.

Among teenagers between 12 and 15, 37.4 per cent had at least one dose and 29.6 per cent got two.

The highest increase in vaccinations was among the 12 to 15 and 16 to 17 groups with 5.8 per cent and 4.5 per cent respectively.