A child wins as he receives his Pfizer vaccine against COVID-19 in Diepsloot Township, near Johannesburg
Highlight
- There is currently no vaccine available for children under the age of 12 in South Africa
- Experts express concern over rising number of COVID-19 infections among young children
- Countries around the world are currently expanding their vaccination programs
There is currently no vaccine available to be administered to children under the age of 12 in South Africa as children under five years of age constitute the second highest risk group after those over the age of 60 as Omicron. The version is taking a vice-like grip on the country, the health department has said.
“As far as vaccination for under 12 years of age is concerned, there is no vaccine registered in South Africa yet. Dr Nicholas Crisp of the Department of Health said, “We are waiting for applications from manufacturers to use vaccines for different ages and at different boosters and intervals.”
Countries around the world are currently expanding their vaccination programs to include young children as infections due to the Omicron variant increase.
“At the moment we know there are some other countries that have started doing this, but we don’t have an application to my knowledge. We had an indication that Pfizer was going to make an application early next year, so It’s not likely that we will have in the very near future,” Crisp said during a media briefing on Friday.
South African experts on Thursday expressed concern about the rising number of COVID-19 infections among young children, even as the country recorded 16,055 infections and 25 deaths overnight on Friday.
“Now, at the start of this fourth wave, we see a fairly rapid increase in all age groups, but especially in the under-fives,” said Dr Waseela Jasat from the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD).
“As expected, the incidence in children is still lowest, however, the incidence in those under five is now second only to the incidence in people over 60.
“The trend we are seeing now is different from the significant increase in hospital admissions among children under five years of age,” Jasat said.
NICD’s Dr. Michelle Grom said more research would be done to investigate the cause of the incident.
“It is still very early in the wave. At this stage it has just started in younger age groups and we will learn more about monitoring this age group in the coming weeks. We need to include only pediatric beds and staff. There is a need to highlight the importance of preparedness for growth,” explained Groom.
(with PTI input)
Read also: South Africa: Concerns over COVID infection among children under 5, as daily cases rise
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