NATIONAL NEWS - The Department of Health is ready to vaccinate children aged 12 to 17.
Health minister Joe Phaahla announced this at a briefing into the Covid-19 vaccine rollout on Friday morning.
Phaahla said the decision was backed up by medical experts.
“We have reached a stage where we are ready to open up vaccination for children between the ages of 12 and 17. This is the secondary school cohort,” he said.
“This follows a recommendation which we received from the ministerial advisory committee on vaccination.
“This recommendation was also supported by health MECs when we met on Tuesday afternoon on our statutory national health council, and this was also supported by cabinet the following day.”
Phaahla said vaccination for this age cohort was expected to start on October 20, to allow the necessary preparations on the EVDS system, where people register, as well as other logistical preparations.
He said the Pfizer vaccine was approved for this age group and would come in handy as schools prepared for final examinations.
“The vaccine ministerial advisory committee advised that for now, we should only give one dose of Pfizer, while assessing information which suggests that in few cases all over the world there have been short-lived cases of transient myocarditis after two doses.
“The timing of the second dose will be informed by further information on this rarely observed side effect which has no permanent risk.
“The committee has also advised that additional doses be given to individuals with compromised immunity such as those on long term oral steroids therapy for autoimmune conditions, those with haematological or immune malignancies, those with solid organ or bone marrow transplant, renal dialysis and primary immunological disorders.”
The advice was that such categories of patients be offered an additional dose over the prescribed normal strictly under the referral by their medical doctor under their supervision.
Phaahla said the department was addressing the call by some health workers on the front line to be considered for booster doses due to the high risk of their work and the fact that they were vaccinated first almost eight months ago, starting on February 17, on the Sisonke study.
“The request is receiving attention and we are working with the SA Medical Research Council on a possible approach and the MRC has applied to SAHPRA to consider a J&J booster to follow the Sisonke study in order to use this as a second study on the possible benefit of enhanced immunity with a booster of the otherwise one-dose vaccine,” he said.
“We will await the results of this application.”
Phaahla said there was an issue around people who have come from other countries having received vaccines not used now in this country.
These are either foreign nationals who reside in South Africa and had gone home and received a single dose vaccine such as AstraZeneca, Moderna, Sputnik, Sinovac and many others.
“We are not able to provide the second doses where they are required and neither can we give the individuals vaccine certificates,” he said.
“The advice we have received is that such individuals can be offered one dose of Pfizer to complete their two doses as there is evidence that AstraZeneca and Moderna combine well with Pfizer and it’s believed that it’s safe with the others as well.
“We are again calling on all South Africans to come forward and contribute towards their own health safety and that of your families, friends, co-workers by vaccinating.”
Dear reader, As your local news provider, we have the duty of keeping you factually informed on Covid-19 developments. As you may have noticed, mis- and disinformation (also known as “fake news”) is circulating online. Group Editors (publications and online platforms) is determined to filter through the masses of information doing the rounds and to separate truth from untruth in order to keep you adequately informed. Local newsrooms follow a strict pre-publication fact-checking protocol. A national task team has been established to assist in bringing you credible news reports on Covid-19.
