East China’s Jiangsu province has started to roll out COVID-19 vaccination for children aged between 3 and 11 on an informed and voluntary basis.
Prefecture-level regions across Jiangsu, such as Nanjing, Suzhou, Nantong, Huai’an, Yancheng and Lianyungang, started rolling out COVID-19 vaccinations for children aged between 3 and 11 this week, local health authorities said.
According to local health commissions, the process for children to receive the vaccine should be supervised and approved by their guardians after examination by a doctor. Authorities said healthy children aged between 3 and 11 without contraindications for the COVID-19 vaccines can receive jabs.
Approved vaccines for children are inactivated vaccines from companies including Sinopharm, Sinovac and Wuhan Institute of Biological Products.
Schools and kindergartens will organize the vaccinations. Guardians are required to accompany children to receive the jabs in health centers in communities.
Based on analysis of serious side-effects, the incidence of adverse reactions in children and adolescents is no higher than that of adults, experts say.
In Jiangsu, vaccination for children from ages 3 to 11 will be carried out in November and December.
Local health authorities plan to finish the first round of shots before Nov 20 and the second round by the end of December.
