A green light for anti-Covid vaccination for children aged between 5 and 11. This has been approved by the Spanish health ministry after being evaluated by the ministry's vaccine panel and given the okay by the public health committee. Thus, three million children in the Spanish state are to receive the Pfizer vaccine, in dosages that are one-third the volume of the normal adult jabs, to be administered with a minimum three-week interval between the first and second doses, the same as for adults. According to La Sexta network, vaccination could begin on December 15th.
So it will be - at least in terms of the 66% reduced volume - a special jab for kids. Several studies, however, determine that the protection which children receive from this reduced shot will be similar. As for the details of how and where these doses will be administered, they have yet to be announced. The design of the campaign is vital because it could, at best, mark a turning point in the number of contagions, just at a time when the sixth wave is still picking up speed in Catalonia, and with the possible effects of the Omicron variant yet to be known.
Where will kids be given their jabs?
Once the vaccination of children between the ages of 5 and 11 is approved at government level, what is not clear, then, is where they might received their shots. The Spanish health minister, Carolina Darias, has not clarified whether the Spanish government favours giving the injections in schools, with the aim of simplifying their distribution.
Speaking in Brussels, where the minister today met with the rest of the European Union's health ministers, Darias did not make it clear, and it seems that the decision could be left for each Spanish autonomous community to decide. The question of vaccination in schools has generated much debate in recent days, but when asked, the minister only spoke of the committee meeting being held this Tuesday, adding that she hoped that vaccinations for children in this age group to begin in the week starting on December 13th and in the way set down by each autonomous community, without clarifying her own opinion.
Protection before Christmas
In total, it is estimated that up to 3.3 million doses of Pfizer will reach the state between December and January to vaccinate children aged 5 to 11, the ages for which the European Medicines Agency approved this vaccine just a few weeks ago. The doses will arrive from next Monday and the minister has asked that the autonomous communities plan campaigns to start protecting children before Christmas.
Nevertheless, school parents' associations and teachers' unions have already noted the difficulties of starting vaccinations in schools before the Christmas holidays, and the matter will be decided by each autonomy. If the best-possible scenario materializes, and vaccinations do arrive in the week of December 13th, it will requires rapid action, with certificates being sent to parents and authorizations given so that children can be vaccinated before the Christmas holidays begin.
High incidence in this age group
But there is reason for the haste - in fact, the data speaks for itself. In the Spanish state at present, Covid incidence is highest in children under the age of 12, who so far have been unable to be protected against coronavirus through vaccines, as until now, none have been given the green light for this age group. In the data for this Tuesday in Catalonia, the Rt transmission rate has gone up by one-hundreth, to 1.30. That is, for every 100 people who are infected, they will pass the virus on to 130 more. The EPG outbreak risk is at 452, up 28 points from yesterday, while the 14-day cumulative incidence in Catalonia is at 354. Hospitalised cases total 795 (47 more than yesterday) although the number in intensive case has fallen slightly from yesterday's 181, to 175. Four deaths from the coronavirus have been notified in the last day in Catalonia.
Main image: A child sits on the steps of a school building, wearing a mask / Unsplash