Argentina vaccinates children from 3 to 11 years old against the coronavirus with doses of Sinopharm

The Ministry of Health of Argentina vaccination against the new coronavirus of minors from 3 to 11 years old who have pre-existing diseases, to whom the Chinese laboratory vaccine will be applied Sinopharm.

“It is important to have a preventive tool in pediatrics, not only for high-risk children, but also because it will have an important effect on reducing the transmission of the virus, especially in intra-family settings.”Said the Minister of Health, Carla Vizzotti, to Radio Urbana.

Vizzotti was preparing to travel to the province of La Pampa, where he will lead the simultaneous nationwide launch of vaccination for that age group. Children with chronic diseases will be immunized first and then the rest will continue.

The vaccine Sinopharm for minors of that age was recently approved by the National Administration of Drugs, Food and Medical Technology, for which the clinical studies carried out in the United Arab Emirates were taken into account. There are nine million doses reserved to guarantee immunization.

On Argentina the vaccination campaign is progressing smoothly after suffering setbacks, especially in the first part of the year. Immunization of adolescents between 12 and 17 years old who do not suffer from health problems began at the end of September and as of Tuesday it will gain momentum with the distribution of 1.6 million doses of the vaccine from the US laboratory Pfizer.

Previously, the immunization of adolescents with comorbidities such as diabetes and respiratory diseases was carried out.

The minister also said that the health authorities are evaluating a booster with a third dose for those citizens “who have already completed one year” since they received the first inoculation.

“We agreed with the ministers in the Health Council to start with those who are most at risk, with comorbidities, and then it can be scaled very quickly and simultaneously with the rest”, the official pointed out.

Coronavirus infections have decreased for 19 weeks in Argentina thanks to the advance in vaccination. According to infectologists, a slight increase in the presence of the Delta variant with community transmission is currently detected, although the majority is still Gamma.

Some 30.1 million people have received the first dose of some vaccine and 23.9 million the two doses from a population of about 45 million inhabitants.

More than 5.2 million people have been infected since the pandemic began in March 2020 and more than 115,000 have died.

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