Covid vaccination for children under 12 will begin from 20th December, Taoiseach Micheal Martin has confirmed. The inoculation will begin with the vulnerable children and continue in the priority order. He has also said that the major cohort vaccinations in children will begin from 10 January onwards.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) had given green light for the use of Pfizer vaccine in children aged 5-11 in late November. Following this The National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) also urged the HSE to use vaccine to this age cohort as the Covid cases among children show a surge in recent weeks. Government accepted the plan last week.
The children will get a smaller dose than that of teenagers and adults. Two doses of Pfizer vaccine will be administered with a gap of three weeks.
You can read about the full guidelines for parents and guardians on the vaccine roll out programme for children here: https://www2.hse.ie/screening-and-vaccinations/covid-19-vaccine/get-the-vaccine/covid-19-vaccination-for-children/
“Covid-19 vaccines will soon be offered to children aged 5 to 11 years and we want parents to have time to read and discuss all the information we have about the vaccine.” Director of the National Immunisation Office (NIO) Dr Lucy Jessop said.
“We know that parents have questions and concerns, and we also know that they want to get information from a trusted source like the HSE, their GP or other healthcare professionals,” she said.