[Source: Reuters]

Vaccination of children Under-12 remains part of the Ministry of Health’s ongoing discussions.

Health Permanent Secretary, Doctor James Fong says sourcing the pediatric doses of the COVID-19 Pfizer vaccine remains difficult.

The pediatric formulation of the Pfizer vaccine is used to vaccinate children between the ages of 5 and 11, and it contains one-third of the adult dose.

Health Permanent Secretary, Doctor James Fong

Doctor Fong says Pfizer’s pediatric dose is still not accessible from the manufacturer.

“It’s not easy to access. The agents we use do not buy only for us, they buy for plenty of people to make it commercially sustainable for them. To make it useful for them to buy, they buy in millions and give us our portion.”

Doctor Fong says the starting time of the vaccination efforts for children between the ages of 5-11 will depend on the negotiations happening overseas.

“What I would like to do is offer it as something we can do. Like I said, for children under 18, we will not make it mandatory, but we would like to offer it as another means of protecting the children.”

Currently, 21,640 children between the ages of 12 and 14 have received the first dose of the vaccine, whereas 10,657 are fully vaccinated.