Children aged 3 to 11 in Colombia will be able to be vaccinated against the coronavirus from Sunday with the Chinese Sinovac vaccine, Colombian President Ivan Duque announced on Friday.
"From this October 31 (...) we open the vaccination against Covid-19 to children from 3 to 11 years old, with the Sinovac vaccine"
, wrote the Head of State on Twitter.
“The goal is to vaccinate around 7.1 million children in this age group,”
said Health Minister Fernando Ruiz.
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Children are unlikely to develop severe forms of the disease, but can be infected and transmit the virus.
To authorize the vaccination of children, the Ministry of Health
"took the green light given by Invima"
, the Colombian drug regulator, added Fernando Ruiz, and Sinovac
"has proven to be a safe vaccine (...) it has been tested on several million Colombians ”
.
China and Chile have also authorized the use of this vaccine for minors.
The United States, the country most bereaved by the pandemic, on Friday authorized Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine for 5 to 11 year olds, paving the way for the imminent launch of a new major stage in the immunization campaign, which concerns 28 million children in the country.
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The epidemic has receded in Colombia since the peak experienced in April and June.
Unrestricted large-scale events can again be organized from mid-November for the capital Bogotá, which has eight million inhabitants.
A total of 21 million Colombians have been immunized against the virus.
Barely 6% of the population declares that they do not intend to be vaccinated, according to the National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE).
In proportion to its population, Colombia is the fourth Latin American country with the most deaths from Covid behind Peru, Brazil and Argentina.
