The government in Bratislava is allowing Pfizer’s Corona vaccine for children 5 years and older. The vaccination is voluntary and will be administered by pediatricians, Slovak media report.
Biontech/Pfizer’s Covid vaccine has been open to all school children in Slovakia since Thursday. The government in Bratislava approved the vaccine for five- to 11-year-olds, Slovak media reported. Health Minister Vladimir Lengvarsky stressed that the vaccination is voluntary and will be administered at the request of parents and with the approval of the child’s pediatrician. In the EU, the vaccine is generally approved by the Medicines Agency EMA only from the age of twelve.
Slovakia trusts its own experts
Children will receive one-third of the usual dose of Pfizer’s vaccine, called Comirnaty, and pediatricians will administer the dose. The health minister explained that the decision to vaccinate children under twelve is based on the demands of experts, pediatricians and other doctors who treat children. The vaccine is recommended by experts in the country for certain diagnoses of children. These include chronic respiratory diseases, cardiovascular diseases, immune-related diseases and oncological diseases.
Vaccine for children under 12 not yet approved by EMA
“Vaccines for children under the age of 12 are currently not yet approved by the European authorities,” the health ministry in Vienna said in response to an APA query about the decision in the neighboring country. “The Austrian National Vaccination Board is monitoring the situation very closely. As soon as there is an appropriate basis for decision, a recommendation will also be made,” stressed the office of department head Wolfgang Mückstein (Greens) on the situation in this country. The pivotal approval study by Pfizer and Biontech on the use of their Covid-19 vaccine in children under the age of twelve has not yet been completed.
- sources: APA/vienna.at/picture: gds.ro
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