This will be the application of the booster dose for children under 12 to 17 years old

The Ministry of Health and Social Protection announced that starting this March 28, the population aged 12 to 17 in the country will be able to access the booster dose against covid-19. The Deputy Minister of Public Health and Service Provision, Germán Escobar, resolved some doubts regarding the third inoculation of minors and the process that will be carried out.

The decision to enable the third dose to this population group came after the Advisory Committee on Vaccines welcomed the recommendation of a group of experts. The Ministry explained that it is constantly looking for scientific evidence to make this type of determination and meets frequently with experts who are part of the Colombian Consensus for the Management of Covid-19.

Evidence showed that the population between 12 and 17 years old would increase their antibodies against covid-19 after receiving the booster dose. “That protection that the person has against the virus, and that this increase achieves greater protection against the most circulating variant omicron,” Escobar argued.

The official commented that adolescents will be able to receive the third dose from the fourth month after completing the vaccination schedule. The biological to be applied will be that produced by the pharmaceutical company Pfizer.

“The only exception is that, if you are in this age range, but you are a transplanted or immunosuppressed person, you will be given the booster dose 30 days after the last dose,” said the deputy minister. In turn, he recalled that minors should not have concomitant diseases or they will not be able to receive the biological one.

Germán Escobar reminded parents and guardians of minors that, “vaccination against covid-19 is the best strategy to protect us from the virus, reduce the risk of becoming seriously ill or dying.” It also called for completing the schedules or receiving booster doses for the population over 18 years of age. “By putting our arms, we all contribute to overcoming this situation that we experienced two years ago,” he added.

This is how vaccination is going in Colombia

Last Saturday, March 26, the Ministry of Health reported that after a drop in the number of vaccines applied in the national territory in the last three weeks, about 300 thousand doses of the vaccine against covid-19 are again being applied daily.

This recovery in the number of daily doses applied nationally “means that the country can still increase its rate of vaccination and that it is not a losing battle to continue pushing to maintain those daily levels of applications,” said Germán Escobar Morales.

The most recent report from the Ministry of Health also indicates that as of 11:59 on Saturday, March 26, 2022, a total of 80,531,597 doses of the vaccine against covid-19 had already been applied in Colombia.

According to the same report, the number of Colombians with the complete vaccination schedule, that is, those who have already received the two doses of the biological, currently amounts to 28,391,339 people, while 6,323,214 people have been immunized with single doses. Likewise, 10,205,047 booster doses have been applied.

Similarly, during the last day, a total of 91,799 vaccines were applied, of which 27,857 were for the second injection, while another 3,400 were single-dose.

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