Filenews 28 July 2021 - by Marilena Panagi
Tomorrow night the Scientific Advisory Committee will meet to decide on the possibility of vaccinating children aged 12-15. In fact, the scientific advisor of the Ministry of Health on vaccination issues and representatives of the Paediatric Society, whose presence is deemed necessary, was invited and will participate.
However, yesterday, both the scientific advisor of the Ministry of Health Christos Petrou and the head of the EES Konstantinos Tsioutis made it clear in statements to the media that "vaccination of children will not eliminate all the problems created by the pandemic in school units", with Christos Petrou even launching an attack on certain officials or representatives of the Ministry of Health , referring to lack of information and coordination between competent agencies.
On the substance of the issue of vaccination of children, Mr Petrou was rather cautious, saying that 'we must first take into account various parameters'. "This means that we take groups of the population, including children, and proceed with priority. The priority will surely be given to groups with more mobility. So we're talking about children over the age of 16. Then we have children who are vulnerable and children who live with vulnerable people."
This, Mr. Petrou said, "is a tactic followed by other countries that have decided to go ahead with vaccinating younger people but in specific categories." "So what I am saying is that we must finally activate the national vaccination committee, where paediatricians are also involved, and see with open minds what data we have and then make decisions," he said, adding, "there is a programme in which Mrs Pana (Zoe-Dorothea Pana, a member of the EES) participates. The data recorded in this programme was never available to us". He went on to say that "both the various departments and the various committees, scientific or not, within the framework of the Ministry of Health must consult each other. We are many consultants, but unfortunately there is a lack of mutual information and coordination."
Regarding the vaccination of children, in relation to the reopening of schools in September, Mr Petrou said that "it should not be a determining factor whether to open schools. Vaccinating children doesn't end the school thing. There are other groups involved, teachers, parents and vaccinating children 12-15 will not solve the problem to open schools. Other measures and an overall policy combining vaccination with other non-pharmaceutical interventions are needed. We need to look a little ahead and not look at situations one by one but also look at them globally and there needs to be coordination between services to see how we get back to schools."
The same view in relation to the link being attempted, particularly by the Government between the vaccination of children and the reopening of schools, was expressed by the head of the EES, saying that 'under no circumstances should the issue of vaccination be involved with decisions to implement measures in schools, nor should vaccination be used as a threat of closure'. Unfortunately, said Konstantinos Tsioutis, "two educational years have been affected, we have experienced intense moments with the issue of horizontal school closures and under no circumstances should we allow any further damage to the education and future of our children".
Also referring to incomplete information, Mr. Tsioutis said that "the lack of sufficient data relating to transmission between children and in school units is also something that we have stressed, pending relevant data for months from those who have been involved in the issue of schools since the beginning of the pandemic".
At the same time, however, he added, leaving spikes for the occasional manipulations in relation to vaccination in general, "we need to recognise the significant proportion of adults who have not responded to vaccination calls, thus giving some room to rush to pass the debate to another age group to boost the vaccination coverage rate."
He also noted that "a large part of unvaccinated adults are parents themselves. So we have two important issues: on the one hand, the search for ways to strengthen the vaccination of adults and, on the other, ensuring that children are vaccinated in accordance with what medical ethics call for."
In 63.2% fully vaccinated - Around 200,000 adults unvaccinated
According to official data released yesterday by the Ministry of Health, by Monday, at least 72.2% of the adult population (18+) had been vaccinated with the first dose of the vaccine, while 63.5% of the adult population completed their vaccination regimen.
These figures show that 199,312 people aged 18 and over have not yet been vaccinated.
In relation to vaccination coverage by province, Paphos still has the lead with 81.4% of its population having received at least the 1st dose. They are followed by the provinces of Famagusta and Nicosia with 78.4% and 72.7% respectively and the province of Limassol with 70.3%. The lowest rate remains in Larnaca province with 66.4%.
From 15 July to 26 July, a total of 6,894 vaccinations were carried out in the Cyprus walk-in vaccination centres.
The highest rates of vaccination coverage (at least one dose) are recorded in the age groups of people aged 80 and over (95%), 70-79 (94.3%), 60-69 (86%) and 60-69 (86%). and 40-49 (81.2%). The vaccination coverage rate for 50-59 year olds is 78.5% while for children 16-17 years of age 25.7%.
Meanwhile, in a statement, Deputy Director of Nursing Services Evagoras Tambouris said that through walk-in centres, "around 5,000-6,000 vaccinations are carried out daily".
He even noted that according to the indications "a large number of citizens are waiting for the summer holiday to proceed with vaccination, which is measured in terms of estimates to meet the 70% target, around 20 August".
He also said that in relation to walk-ins, "we are expected to try something else now. Through the large vaccination centres, a greater number of walk-ins can be found, which will enable for larger numbers."
It concluded that this proposal is expected to be adopted within the next few days, and will proceed accordingly.
