Vaccination against Covid-19 starts for children aged 5 to 11 years |31 January 2023

The Ministry of Health yesterday started its campaign to vaccinate schoolchildren aged 5 to 11 years on Mahé, Praslin and La Digue with the Paediatric Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against Covid-19.

The vaccination took place in ten public and private primary schools across the country where children whose parents have given their consent for them to take the vaccine were administered with the first dose. The second doses will be given in three weeks’ time.

Speaking to the press at the Bel Eau primary school, the chief executive of the Health Care Agency, Dr Danny Louange, said that the vaccination campaign is to prevent the spread of the virus, the transmission of which is common among children.

He noted that while the ministry is targeting to vaccinate around 10,000 children aged 5 to 11 years, a mere 25% have responded to the call so far. 

Given that the Pfizer-BioNTech medicine, specially made for children, expires in April, the last date to take the first dose of the vaccine is April 7, 2023 and the last date to take the second dose is April 28, 2023.

The Ministry of Health is urging parents of eligible children to avail of the vaccine to protect themselves and their families from severe illness and complications associated with Covid-19 infection.

“For the moment the vaccination campaign is going well but I wish that more parents would come forward to give their consent for their children to take the vaccine,” said Dr Louange, who noted that other than the children being vaccinated to protect themselves, the country also will be more prepared to combat the virus in case of another surge of Covid-19.

Dr Louange, who acknowledged some side effects from the vaccine, said that while it has been proven internationally that the benefit of the vaccine against protection of severe illness and transmission outweighs any known adverse risks associated with its use, the ministry has, as precautionary measures, put in place a system to capture children reporting with such adverse effects.

He said he would like to see more parents come forward and give their consent for their child to be vaccinated to protect themselves and their families from severe illness and complications associated with the virus.

It is to be noted that the virus has and is changing in many forms.

The head teacher of Bel Eau primary school, Jane Laurette, said that the school sent out 450 consent forms to parents and as of yesterday only 100 consent forms authorising for vaccination had been received among some others that were received as blank.  

When thinking about the needle, she said she couldn’t hide the fact that some children were afraid when they came for registering but they were all ok after the process. 

The Ministry of Health is working closely with the Ministry of Education and the Red Cross Society of Seychelles in the implementation of this campaign through transmitting information and calls for parents to consent for their child to be vaccinated, through posters, billboards and media spots on different radio and television stations.

The Ministry of Health of Seychelles is also offering a special paediatric formulation of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine for children aged 5-11 years. This information sheet is meant to help parents understand the risks and benefits of their child taking the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine. For more information contact 4388062.

The accompanying photos show some highlights of the vaccination process at the Bel Eau primary school yesterday.

Patrick Joubert/Ministry of Health press release

Photos by Patrick Joubert