By Chantalé Fletcher
CHILDREN ages five to 11 years old will soon receive the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccines.
This was revealed by Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh at the Ministry of Health virtual presser on Saturday.
He said the World Health Organization (WHO) has granted Emergency Use Listing (EUL) for the authorisation of the Pfizer-BioNTech for children ages 5 to 11 years old on Friday.
Currently, children 12 to 18 were being administered Pfizer to help fight against the Covid-19 vaccine.
Deyalsingh said there were many parents, doctors and paediatricians who were early awaiting the rollout of the vaccine programme for children five to 11.
Process
The Chief Medical Officer (CMO) would convene his technical advisory group on Monday to dissect and digest the updated guidelines, he said.
He said, “We would also be conferring with the Pan American Health Organizations (PAHO) and the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) to look at their technical guidance and what it entails”
The minister stated that upon news of the guidelines, he was personally contacted by Dr Faith B. Yisrael of the Tobago House of Assembly to coordinate the national rollout and training and synthesization programme for those who have to administer the vaccines.
Deyalsingh said Minister of Education Dr Nyan Dolly-Gadsby was notified as it directly affected school children between the ages of 5 to 11.
In addition, he also reached out to Dr Singh of the Paediatric Society and the Paediatric Oncologist at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex.
Deyalsingh said all these people will be invited to examine the documents and examine the way forward and recommendations for the national rollout.
He added that the expanded programme for immunization led by Nurse Grace Sookchan and Principal Pharmacist would also conduct their synthesization programmes,as the dosages would be different.
Deyalsingh added that all the pieces of the puzzle would have to placed together before the announcement of a national rollout
“However, once we have a position we will come to the national population to discuss the national rollout.”
