Schoolchildren between the ages of 5 and 11 whose parents refuse to vaccinate them will be admitted to the schoolssince, the vaccination of these is subject to the consent of their parents or guardians, on the day that begins this Monday 14 in the 18 Regional and the 122 Educational Districts of the Ministry of Educationin coordination with the Health Cabinet and the Ministry of Public Health.
A statement from the Minerd refers that Resolution number 0069 of the Ministry of Health, which requires a PCR test for those who refuse to be vaccinated, only applies to children over 12 years of age, the teaching and administrative staff of the schools.
The Health and Education Cabinet ratified that schoolchildren from 5 to 11 years old will be vaccinated exclusively in the schools and two doses of the Sinovac vaccine will be used with a period of 28 days between inoculations.
The vaccine will not be available at regular vaccination centers.
Last week began the training and preparation of the personnel of the schools public that will work on the vaccination day, as well as in the delivery to the parents or guardians of the document that endorses the consent for the vaccination.
Also in private schools, they distributed to parents and guardians the authorization form and the instructions on how the process will be carried out.
Each school will schedule the vaccination according to the authorizations received and the dose will always be administered in the presence of the parents or guardians.
During the day, adolescents between the ages of 12 and 18 who have not completed the inoculation scheme will also be vaccinated, as well as the teaching, administrative and support staff of public and private centers.
The vaccines will be applied by health professionals of the Ministry of Public Health and according to the documents delivered to the parents, they will be able to determine if it is appropriate to apply the dose established at the time of presentation.
According to the planning made by the Ministry of Education, first the educational centers will be visited in order to guarantee that the teachers and the administrative personnel complete their main basic scheme. Then, training will be given to directors and teachers on the logistics to be developed to guarantee a transparent and homogeneous process and that it does not hinder the academic plan in development. Then they will be delivered to the “informed consent”, which must be signed by the parents or guardians and the infants to be vaccinated and each teacher will be in charge of compiling the documents corresponding to the students in their classroom. Once the consents signed by the parents have been collected, the date for the start of the vaccination in the educational center will be set. The inoculation will begin on Monday, February 14, throughout the national territory, and the 1.5 China Sinovac vaccine will be used. Public Health authorities and the Ministry of Education estimate that 1,236,645 students will be immunized in the next six months.
At the end of January of this year, the Government gave the green light to the vaccination of children under five years of age, a process that will be carried out starting in schools as a way to optimize resources and take advantage of the volume of the “captive population” of students.
The authorities have reiterated that the consent of the parents will be imperative for this process that begins today in the schools.