Vaccination against Covid-19 with PFIZER-BIONTECH starts for children aged 5 to 11 years

The administration of the first doses of the Paediatric Pfizer-BioNTech (Comirnaty™) Covid-19 Vaccine, (Bnt162bb2 mRNA) officially start on Monday 30th January 2023 in ten primary schools on Mahe, Praslin and La Digue.

Children aged between 5-11 years of age are eligible to take the vaccine at their respective schools. The vaccine will be administered per schedule, which will be disseminated throughout the campaign for public information.

The Ministry of Health is working closely with the Ministry of Education and the Red Cross Society of Seychelles in the implementation of this campaign. Children will be administered two doses of the vaccine, with the second dose administered three weeks after the first dose. The Ministry of Health is urging parents of eligible children to avail of the vaccine to protect themselves and their families from severe illness and complications associated with COVID-19 infection. The last date to take the first dose of the vaccine is 7th April 2023 and the last date to take the 2nd dose is 28th April, 2023.

With the aim to promote vaccine uptake, the Ministry of Health is also implementing a communication campaign with the support of the Red Cross Society of Seychelles. Through this campaign, the Ministry is transmitting information and calls for parents to consent for their child to be vaccinated, through posters, billboards and media coverage on different radio and television stations.

For more information, please contact the EPI Programme Manager or the School Health Programme Manager on 4388062.