IDNEWSNOW.COM, Boyolali – Deputy Health Minister Dante Saksono Harbuwono confirmed the COVID-19 vaccination for children aged 6-11 years old will start on December 24.
“Starting December 24, we will prioritize vaccines for children. We have allocated around 58-60 million doses,” he said in Boyolali, Central Java on Friday, December 10.
The policy on vaccination for children is noted in the Home Affairs Minister’s Instruction No. 66 of 2021 concerning the COVID-19 prevention and handling during Christmas and New Year.
“Local governments can start vaccinating children aged 6-11 years if they have reached 70 percent of the vaccination target of at least the first dose and 60 percent of the first dose vaccination for the elderly in accordance with applicable regulations,” as read in the instruction inked by Home Affairs Minister Tito Karnavian on Thursday, December 9.
BPOM has given the emergency use authorization of China’s Sinovac vaccine for children aged above five years old on November 2. In June, the agency allowed the vaccine to be injected into children aged 12-17 years in order to support face-to-face learning at schools.
Other than Sinovac, BPOM is still evaluating and assessing the trial of the Sinopharm vaccine for children under 12 years old and waiting for the Pfizer vaccine to register in the agency as it had received the emergency use authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration on October 29.
Read: KPAI Urges Health Ministry to Accelerate COVID-19 Vaccination for Children
DEWI NURITA
