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No plan yet to vaccinate all children over 12

28 Sep 2021

BY Buddhika Samaraweera The Health Ministry has stated that steps will be taken in the future to provide Covid-19 vaccines to children at vaccination centres, in addition to hospitals, if a decision is made to vaccinate all children above 12 years, as well as to those with chronic diseases to whom the vaccines are being administered at present. The Morning contacted Health Ministry Communications Director, Public Health Services Deputy Director General (DDG), and Disaster Preparedness and Response Division Head, Dr. Hemantha Herath to inquire whether there is any plan to expand the Covid-19 vaccination for children with chronic diseases to vaccination centres in the field, as it is currently made available only in hospitals. In response, he said that so far there is no plan to vaccinate such children at vaccination centres. However, he said that if a decision is taken to vaccinate all children above the age of 12 years, the necessary steps will be taken to vaccinate them at vaccination centres as well. “At the moment, Covid-19 vaccination is being implemented for children with special requirements. That means those who are having some kind of medical problem. The majority of them go to hospitals to attend clinics. Therefore, they can go to the nearest hospital and obtain the vaccines. Vaccinating children in the field is not considered at the moment, but if all other children are going to be vaccinated, this can be expanded to the field as well,” he added. The Covid-19 vaccination programme for children over 12 years of age suffering from chronic diseases commenced on 24 September at the Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children (LRH) in Colombo. The health authorities later announced that arrangements would be made at other main hospitals in the country from 27 September. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had recently instructed health officials to inoculate children between the ages of 15 and 19 years with the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine and National Operations Centre for the Prevention of the Covid-19 Outbreak (NOCPCO) Head and Army Commander Gen. Shavendra Silva said that the President had also instructed officials to inoculate children with special needs above the age of 12 years, with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. The Advisory Committee on Communicable Diseases (ACCD) has also recommended the administration of Covid-19 vaccines to children suffering from chronic diseases.


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