Portugal, France begin vaccinating younger children

Portugal, one of the countries with the highest COVID-19 vaccination rates in the world, started vaccination of more than five animals on Saturday, and France is ready to deploy a jab for them from next week. Said.

Europe is currently fighting to curb the spread of highly mutated Omicron variants of the coronavirus. This is considered to be much more infectious, and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen has warned that new strains could dominate Europe by mid-January.

Many countries are already driving immunization Young childrenAlthough EU health agencies warn that jabs alone are not enough to stop the rise of mutants.

In Portugal, where 88.9% of the population is vaccinated, more than 60,000 are vaccinated Children People between the ages of 5 and 11 were set to receive the first jab of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine this weekend.

And in France, Health Minister Olivier Véran said that from Wednesday, jabs will begin to be given to children of the same age group.

“If all goes well, we will start vaccination of children in a specially remodeled center on the afternoon of December 22nd,” he told France Interradio.

But even when children are lined up to get a jab, the EU Health Agency ECDC takes measures such as wearing masks, remote work, and congestion prevention because vaccines alone take too long. It states that it is essential to reduce the burden on the medical system in time.

The EU drug Watchdog last month approved a low-dose Pfizer-BioNTech Shot for age groups 5-11 years, who are experiencing high coronavirus infection rates across the continent.

Denmark has seen a surge in cases due to new Omicron variants, and some Austrian regions have already begun offering jabs to young children in November.

The United States was the first major power to plunge and has vaccinated more than 5 million children between the ages of 5 and 11.

© 2021 AFP