The Ministry of Health will soon be administering the second dose of the Pfizer – BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to children between the ages of five and 11. The second dose is administered 28 days after the first.
Some 4,000 children in that age cohort have already received the first dose of the vaccine.
During a recent COVID-19 update, Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony said, “We need to do a lot more, and we need to encourage more parents to bring their children out to be vaccinated.”
Earlier this year, the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended extending the use of a smaller dose of the Pfizer – BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to children ages 5 to 11. The recommended dosage for the younger population is 10 micrograms instead of 30, which is given to adults.
The vaccines have been widely used in places like North America, and Europe and have been found to be quite effective.
On June 6, Guyana received some 52,800 doses of Pfizer – BioNTech vaccines from Spain which will be administered on a two-dose schedule.
Before a child can be vaccinated, a consent form must be filled by a parent or guardian. The process is relatively simple and allows the staff to ask the parent or guardian questions that will determine whether or not the child has any allergies to vaccines, or he/she has comorbidities. This will determine whether the vaccine should be administered. (Extracted and modified from the Department of Public Information)
