Five- to 11-year-olds to be offered Covid vaccine
THE Covid-19 vaccination programme has been extended to children aged five to 11 in the Bailiwick.
The news was announced as the hall that has been home to the Covid Vaccination Centre at Beau Sejour for the last year shut its doors for the last time yesterday.
The CVC is moving from the large Sir John Loveridge Hall to the smaller Cambridge and Delancey rooms, which are upstairs at the leisure centre.
It was situated for a short time in the centre’s other main hall, the David Ferguson.
The vaccination expansion is in line with the recommendation of the UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.
The non-urgent offer is for two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at least 12 weeks apart.
Invitation letters will be sent to parents soon.
Health & Social Care president Deputy Al Brouard said the idea had been given careful consideration before deciding to expand it.
‘We have always sought to align our vaccination programme with the advice of the JCVI and, following a review of its latest guidance on offering the vaccine for five- to 11-year- olds, we took the decision that we would again align,’ he said.
‘Invitation letters always ensure they contain relevant information to help support healthy discussions between parents and their children before they make whatever decision is right for them.’
Vaccinations for this age group will be by booked appointment only. In recent times the vaccination staff have been moving to a variety of community locations, such as the Guille-Alles Library, and this looks set to continue for the younger age group.
There were more than 2,500 active cases of Covid last Tuesday, which are the most recently published figures. Of these, more than 260 were aged between five and 10.
Vaccines were already offered to children aged between five and 11 if they were in a clinical risk group or if they were a household contact of someone who
is immunosuppressed.
The JCVI said the move to expand vaccination to those aged between five and 11 was a one-off pandemic response programme.
‘As the Covid pandemic moves further towards endemicity in the UK, JCVI will review whether, in the longer term, an offer of vaccination to this, and other paediatric age groups, continues to be advised,’ it stated.
. The weekly local Covid case figures are set to be published today.
