Families can now make appointments to vaccinate children aged 5 to 11

BarcelonaFamilies interested in making an appointment to vaccinate children aged between 5 and 11 can start doing so at vacunacovid.catsalut.gencat.cat as of this Monday at 2 p.m., after the first 234,000 paediatric Pfizer doses landed in Catalonia. In addition to the first 1.3 million doses that have arrived in Spain, the Spanish government has announced that 1.2 million more will arrive between December and January. In total, 2.5 million vaccines.

The immunization of about 550,000 Catalan children in this age group will begin this Wednesday, December 15, in the fifty mass vaccination points enabled throughout the country, such as pavilions or sports centres, after the Public Health Commission (formed by the Ministry of Health and regional governments) agreed that the children's vaccination campaign would start at the same time throughout the state. For this group there will be no age brackets, so parents may request time and date regardless of whether the child is 5 or 10. However, it will always be necessary for families to make an appointment.

Vaccinations for children are part of a vaccination strategy that also includes booster jabs for the over 60s, which is already underway and is considered a priority by the health authorities. In addition, the unvaccinated and those only having received one shot can get vaccinated without a prior appointment.

Mass vaccination points

In the case of children, it has been decided to centralise administration in mass vaccination points, apart from some primary care centres or hospitals with large paediatric wards. The Department of Health has decided that the vaccines will not be administered in schools, as other regions have done, because the children are very young and "it is better that they are accompanied by their families".

Children under the age of 15 continue to record the highest cumulative incidence in the last week, with 358 infections per 100,000, followed by the age band that goes from 30 to 49, which recorded 279 infections per 100,000 inhabitants. These two groups, which may be parents and children, are the only ones that exceed the Catalan average (239).

In Catalonia there are about 550,000 children aged 5 to 11. The Health Department estimates that it will finish administering all doses (first and second dose separated by eight weeks) by the month of March. The vaccine is not compulsory for any age group, including for children.