(By Ernesto Cooke) – Given the percentage of those 18 years and younger contracting COVID-19 in St Vincent, health officials have started to look to vaccines to control the spread among the young population.
There are 552 cases of children 18 years and younger who are COVID positive, with the lowest at one point being a 1-month-old baby.
A peak in pediatric cases has taken place since April 2021 in St Vincent.
These cases officials say could be attributed to shelters, but also from persons letting their guard down.
On Tuesday, the country’s Chief Medical Officer Simone Keizer Beache Beache stated that currently, only Astra Zeneca is available to 18 years and over; however, they are actively seeking vaccines for children.
“We are actively seeking Pfizer vaccines for use in the pediatric population because it has been approved for children as young as twelve.”
Beache said that is what officials are currently working on at this time.
On Tuesday afternoon Health Minister St Clair Prince said that Twenty Seven percent of the reported COVID cases are 18 years and younger.
So far, the Minister said two children and one teacher had contracted COVID-19 at one of the learning hubs.
The Food and Drug Administration, on Monday 10th May, lowered the age that people can receive Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine in the United States to 12 — a move that is expected to make millions of more shots available.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was authorized for use in people ages 16 and up in December. The FDA has now amended the authorization to include children ages 12 to 15.
St Vincent Government Seeking Pfizer Vaccines For Children
Ernesto is a senior journalist with the St. Vincent Times. Having worked in the media for 16 years, he focuses on local and international issues. He has written for the New York Times and reported for the BBC during the La Soufriere eruptions of 2021.
