Government prepares for childhood immunizations as of December 20 – The HuffPost

via Associated Press

CORONAVIRUS – The government plans to initiate vaccination against the Covid-19 “To all children” from 5 to 11 years old, “on a voluntary basis, if possible by the end of the year”, declared this Monday 6 December Jean Castex.

For the 360,000 children “at risk” to develop serious forms of the virus, vaccination has already received the green light from the High Authority for Health (HAS) and “will begin on December 15,” said the Prime Minister.

“The first delivery of Pfizer vaccines with a dilution suitable for children will be made on December 13,” said Minister of Health Olivier Véran, inviting “parents (to) contact their doctor, their pediatrician, to find out if their child is part of this priority ”category.

Two “green lights” expected

For the other children, around 6 million aged 5-11, the executive is still awaiting the “green lights” from the HAS and the National Consultative Ethics Committee (CCNE) but “we are organizing all the logistics (… ) to be able, when the time comes, to start vaccinating (them) without delay, ”said Olivier Véran.

In the afternoon, the Steering Committee for the vaccination strategy headed by Professor Alain Fischer spoke in favor of opening vaccination for the youngest.

“In practice, this could start around December 20 for vaccination centers, December 27 for city medicine and pharmacies,” added Olivier Véran.

The Minister of Health explained that he wanted to take advantage Christmas school holidays to vaccinate children quickly, in order to avoid class closures at the start of the school year. Early December, more than 33,500 students had tested positive coronavirus, a record.

See also on The HuffPost: Covid: The variant discovered in South Africa worries researchers but your priority is elsewhere