All children aged three to 11 years can register for their Covid-19 vaccination from today.They will be administered two doses of the Chinese vaccine Sinopharm, the National Taskforce for Combating the Coronavirus (Covid-19) announced yesterday.
The Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine will soon be approved for children aged five to 11 years, the taskforce added.“Covid-19 jabs have been approved for children aged three to 11 years after the vaccination committee studied all medical recommendations,” said the taskforce. “Two doses of Pfizer will also be approved soon for those aged between five and 11 years. “Details will be announced on the Health Ministry’s website.”The taskforce stressed the importance of vaccinating the young to protect them, their families and society. “Children suffering from Covid-19 are more likely to spread the infection.
It’s due to the long incubation period of the virus in children and hence vaccination is important,” explained the taskforce. Registrations can be done via the Health Ministry’s website healthalert.gov.bh or through the BeAware mobile application by selecting the option ‘Registration for vaccination’.
Bahrain had opened vaccination for children aged three to 11 who suffer from underlying health conditions on August 21 and for those aged between 12-17 on May 19. The latter were subsequently given the option of choosing between Sinopharm and Pfizer/BioNTech.
The move is an addition to Bahrain’s achievements in battling the pandemic, as the country is inching towards the much-desired ‘herd immunity’. As of Monday, the national vaccination campaign, launched on December 17 last year, has covered 1,138,329 people with two doses of a vaccine. This accounts for 78.23 per cent of the total population of 1.5 million; 1,173,571 people (76pc) have taken at least one dose of a vaccine.
At least 90.3pc of the eligible population have been fully vaccinated while 93.14pc have been given at least one dose.The estimated eligible population stands at 1.26m, and includes everyone aged above 12 and children aged three to 11 who have underlying health conditions.‘Herd immunity’, also known as ‘population immunity’, is the indirect protection from an infectious disease that happens when a population is immune either through vaccination or immunity developed through previous infection.
WHO supports achieving ‘herd immunity’ through vaccination and not by allowing a disease to spread through any segment of the population, as this would result in unnecessary cases and deaths.Experts estimate that ‘herd immunity’ would require around 80-90pc of the population to have Covid-19 immunity, either through prior infection or vaccination.Bahrain would require to cover an estimated 1,200,000 people with two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine to achieve ‘herd immunity’.The kingdom has so far vaccinated more than 80pc of people aged above 40 with a booster shot as an extra measure of protection against the infection.
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