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BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN – A complete of 666 youngsters acquired their first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Saturday, as Brunei kicked off its COVID-19 vaccination drive for youngsters ages 5-11.
The Ministry of Well being (MoH) mentioned 50,000 first doses have been made accessible for younger youngsters at six vaccination centres throughout the nation.
“The vaccine is voluntary and it isn’t getting used as a type of passport for youngsters to be allowed again to highschool. It’s a part of our effort, apart from bertawakkal, to stop youngsters from creating critical signs from COVID-19,” mentioned well being minister YB Dato Dr Hj Mohd Isham Hj Jaafar.
He mentioned though youngsters are much less more likely to develop extreme sickness from coronavirus in comparison with adults, the healthcare system noticed extra youngsters hospitalised in the course of the Omicron-fuelled third wave, in comparison with the Delta-driven second wave final yr.
There have been two reported deaths amongst youngsters aged 5-11 in Brunei — each had been unvaccinated and had underlying well being points — and 4 circumstances of multi-system inflammatory syndrome, a uncommon however critical situation that causes irritation of important organs.
“The Omicron pressure causes milder signs more often than not for adults … However globally COVID-19 has resulted in a mortality charge of 0.03 p.c [for children under 14]. That signifies that for each 10,000 youngsters contaminated, three of them die,” YB Dato Dr Hj Mohd Isham mentioned.
Earlier this week, the well being ministry urged mother and father of high-risk youngsters — akin to these with particular wants or persistent well being points — to get their youngsters vaccinated as they had been extra more likely to develop issues from COVID.
To this point, 12 p.c of all recorded COVID infections in Brunei — that’s over 16,000 youngsters — had been beneath 12-years-old.
“We now have offered mother and father with all the knowledge, we wish them to make their very own judgement. In the event that they really feel it’s the correct selection for them, then the federal government is offering the vaccine,” the minister mentioned.
A casual ballot carried out on The Scoop’s Instagram web page confirmed that 74 p.c had been in favour of COVID vaccination for youths, whereas 24 p.c mentioned they weren’t. A complete of 406 customers responded to the ballot over 24 hours.
A number of respondents within the ballot mentioned they had been apprehensive in regards to the potential uncomfortable side effects in younger youngsters and uncertainty over long-term outcomes.
Knowledge from the Vaccine Hostile Occasion Reporting System (VAERS), the world’s largest database system for monitoring vaccine security, confirmed that 2.4 p.c of youngsters aged 5-11 had critical reactions to the vaccine, from the 8 million doses administered worldwide. From these, 11 circumstances of myocarditis (an irritation of the muscle) had been reported, however all youngsters recovered. No youngster deaths have been straight linked to the vaccine.
One mother or father, Hannah Lim, mentioned she was “pro-vaccine” and that her three sons aged 18, 14 and seven had been all vaccinated.
I’m very eager about this vaccination as a result of my 7-year-old son beforehand had points with eczema, she mentioned in an interview on the Indoor Stadium vaccination centre. “His immune system was compromised and there was an episode of momentary paralysis when he was 3-years-old.”
“So he’s seven now, and for me, getting the vaccination is essential as a result of I don’t know what’s going to occur if he will get COVID.
“These outdated points may very well resurface and I wouldn’t need that. That is for his safety and for my household’s safety.”
She added, “I do know there are mother and father who wish to wait and see, as a result of they wish to see actual knowledge from Brunei, not simply from abroad. That is additionally my approach of exhibiting my friends and folks round us that it’s okay, it’s actually essential to get vaccinated.”
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