Parents can register 12-to-15-year-old children for vaccine from tomorrow

(MENAFN - The Peninsula) Doha: Parents will be able to register their children aged 12 to 15 years to take the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine through the Ministry of Public Health website ( ) from tomorrow Sunday, May 16 and after which they will be contacted by the Primary Health Care Corporation. Offering the vaccine to 12-15-year-olds in Qatar will help to ensure a return to greater normality when the school year starts this coming September.  Children aged from 12 to 15 years are to be offered the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in Qatar, MoPH had announced last week. ''Extending the opportunity for children aged 12 to 15 years to take the Pfizer vaccine comes shortly after Pfizer said that its study of the vaccine’s use in participants 12 to 15 years old found that it was ‘safe and extremely effective in preventing COVID-19 cases’, and the US Food and Drug Administration approved the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for 12- to 15-year-olds in the US,” MoPH said in a statement on May 12. Speaking about announcement, Chair of the National Health Strategic Group on COVID-19 and Head of Infectious Diseases at Hamad Medical Corporation, Dr. Abdullatif Al Khal said: ''We now have very strong scientific evidence that shows that the Pfizer vaccine is safe and effective for 12-15-year-olds and we want to ensure that every child in this age group has the opportunity to get vaccinated soon. ''Getting our young people vaccinated will not only protect them against the virus but will give us the opportunity to have less restrictions in schools in the future and may significantly reduce the interruptions to the education system that we have seen at times during the pandemic. It will also allow our younger people to have greater freedoms to socialise and participate in activities going forward.”MENAFN15052021000063011010ID1102083767