Children can get second COVID jab from this week

The rollout of the second dose of COVID-19 vaccines for the pediatric population will start this week, according to Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony.

The minister, during his daily COVID-19 update, said that the children ages five to 11 who received their first jab should now be at the 28-day mark, which is the time from which they can receive their second jab to become fully immunized.

“For the five to 11, we have been able to administer 4,000 first doses and during this week we will start administering the second doses. So those persons who got the first dose are at 28 days now.

“They can come to any one of the vaccination sites. So we have vaccination sites in every region and therefore if a parent would like their children to be vaccinated they can come to any one of these sites,” Dr Anthony said.

The minister is also encouraging adults who received both first and second doses to get their booster shots.

“If you have had your first and second dose more than a year ago, that’s too long. So people need to come back and get their booster dose…after six months the antibodies in your system begin to drop and therefore you need to be boosted,” the Health Minister added.

To date, over 35,000 children aged 12-17 have been vaccinated with one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, representing 48.1 per cent of that population while 25,647 or 35.2 per cent have received both doses.

For the adult population, a total of 443,872 or 86.5 per cent have received their first dose and 343,640 or 67 per cent have received two doses; a total of 68,984 booster doses have been administered to adults.