Public Health is planning to hold more COVID vaccine clinics for at-risk 5-11 year olds after holding its first clinic over the weekend.
On Saturday, 48 children attended the Public Health Clinic at the Cayman Islands Hospital to get their shots. These are the first children under the age of 12 to get COVID vaccinations in Cayman, after the UK approved the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech for vulnerable 5-11 year olds.
Britain’s National Health Service announced on Sunday that it would begin rolling out vaccines this week for at-risk children in this age group across Britain.
While Cayman awaits a shipment from the UK of vaccine doses specially prepared for children, Public Health nurses have been using partial doses taken from adult-size vials.
Children ages 5-11 are being given vaccines in 10-microgram amounts, a third of the quantity used for adults.
Last week, Interim Chief Medical Officer Dr. Autilia Newton said the UK, which supplies Cayman with vaccines free of charge, had already allocated a quota of the paediatric-size doses.
The vaccine is not yet available to all 5-11 year olds.
Children with medical conditions that make them more vulnerable to the effects of COVID, or those living in households with people who are immunosuppressed, are eligible to receive the vaccines.
According to the latest update on COVID numbers released by officials, as of Saturday, 29 Jan., there were 5,708 active reported cases of the virus across the Cayman Islands, with 200 new cases being recorded on that day.
On Saturday, 18 people with COVID were in hospital, including two new admissions.
The Sister Islands also noted 22 new cases, bringing the total active cases there to 67.
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So messed up. Statistics clearly do NOT support giving 5-11 year olds an experimental vaccine that did NOT go through the normal approval processes. Disgusting that we are doing this to children.