Public Health Minister announced scheduling of the start of vaccinating children five to 11 years for 7 February 2022.
More than one million children from five to 11 years old will be eligible for the vaccine, Public Health Minister Daniel Rivera announced on 20 January 2022 from the Presidential Palace in the presence of Vice President Raquel Peña, who presides the Health Cabinet.
This new phase of the National Vaccination Plan calls for vaccinating 1,378,000 children from five to 11 years old. Vice President Peña says the vaccinating of the children is voluntary and with the informed consent of the parents. Already, most schools require that children 12+ be vaccinated.
Dr. Rivera said th positivity rate of the 5-11 year old group is at 11%.
Education Minister Roberto Fulcar said the government is considering vaccinating the young children at the schools themselves. He said that by year’s end, the overall positivity in the country was 5%. Positivity, nevertheless, increased to over 20% with the entry of the Omicron variant after the shutdown of schools for the Christmas holidays. The number of cases is now on the decline.
Education Minister Fulcar says that among teachers and administrative staff, the positivity was even lower, or 1.58% and in the case of students 0.8%, not even 1% of students were infected by the fourth wave. The reality has proven Furcal, a strong advocate of remote learning, was wrong in keeping a strong stand against in-person learning all through 2020 and most of 2021. It took a mandate of Vice President Raquel Peña to reopen private and public schools nationwide.
Read more in Spanish:
Listin Diario
Diario Libre
25 January 2022