Chile announced this Thursday that it will begin to vaccinate against the COVID-19 to children from the age of three, in a new expansion of the vaccination program in the country, where already more than 90% of the target population is immunized with the full schedule.
The Chilean Public Health Institute (ISP) announced in a statement that children from the age of three will be vaccinated with the Coronavac vaccine from the Chinese laboratory Sinovac. Since September, the ISP had authorized the inoculation of children between the ages of six and 15 with the same vaccine. From 16 to 18 years the Pfizer vaccine is used.
The authorization was based on the analysis made by the ISP of studies carried out by Sinovac in China in which “it is shown that the vaccine in the background had a greater amount of adverse reaction in children between 12 and 17 years old, and that in the age group between three and five years did not appear any serious adverse reaction. That is extremely important, ”said Heriberto García, director of the institute.
“I want to ensure that the vaccines are for them and we will promptly give the calendar for children from the age of three,” said Paula Daza, Undersecretary of Health, during the daily report of the pandemic in Chile.
In this way, Chile aligns itself with other countries in the region, such as Argentina, which since October approved the use of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine for children between three and 11 years old.
The announcement occurs when 13.8 million people (90.8% of the target population of 15 million of the 19 million inhabitants of the country) have already received the complete vaccination schedule, according to the Ministry of Health.
Chile has received, until last week, 42.3 million vaccines. Of these 24.2 million are from Sinovac; 13.5 million, from Pfizer-Biontech, four million, from the Swedish-British group Astrazeneca and 576,000, from the Chinese CanSino.
After the arrival of the coronavirus in Chile in March 2020, 1.75 million people have been infected, of which some 38,000 have died, according to official figures.
.
Ricardo is a renowned author and journalist, known for his exceptional writing on top-news stories. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he is known for his ability to deliver breaking news and insightful analysis on the most pressing issues of the day.
