Argentina approves Sinopharm vaccine for children from 3 to 11 years old

Government Argentinian announced this Friday the approval of the use of the vaccine Sinopharm, of Chinese origin, to immunize children from 3 to 11 years old against covid-19, the only age group that has not yet started the immunization process in the South American country.

“It is a huge step in our vaccination campaign and adds to the escalation of vaccination of adolescents that we have planned for October,” declared the Minister of Health, Carla Vizzotti, at a press conference with her education peer, Jaime Perczyk.

Some 5.5 to 6 million children between 3 and 11 years old are in a position to be vaccinated, for which Argentina already has an inventory of almost 10 million doses of Sinopharm and the arrival of 2 is expected next week. , 75 million.

Sinopharm is given in two doses, 28 days apart.

“Argentina will end the year 2021 with its entire population over 3 years covered” against the coronavirus, the minister promised.

Vizzotti specified that in order to approve Sinopharm they had the results of phase 1 and 2 clinical trials carried out in children in China and the United Arab Emirates, as well as the experience of Chile where another vaccine “of the same platform” is applied.

Argentina has recently started immunizing five million adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 with the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.

Until this Friday, some 22.4 million people completed the vaccination schedule (49.7% of the total population), and another 7.4 million received the first dose.

The government intends to take advantage of the campaign to complete the mandatory vaccination plan for school-age children, which in many cases was discontinued since March 2020 in the framework of confinement due to the pandemic.

“These vaccines can be co-administered, it will be a huge opportunity to recover vaccination plans,” said Vizzotti.

For several weeks, Argentina has registered a substantial drop in infections and daily deaths from covid, which this Friday stood at 1,564 new cases and 48 deaths, which has prompted a strong reopening of activities.

Argentina, of 45 million inhabitants, registers 5.5 million total infections and just over 115,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

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