COVID vaccinations for students in 12 - 18 age group to begin soon

Vaccinating schoolchildren aged between 12 - 18 years against COVID-19 is currently under discussion, says Minister of Keheliya Rambukwella.

Addressing a virtual meeting from the Health Ministry today (Sep. 09), the minister pointed out that rolling out COVID vaccinations for students should commence at the earliest possible in order to reopen schools soon.

After vaccinations for the aforementioned age group are completed, academic activities in schools can be resumed for students from Grade 07 to 13 as the academic and non-academic staff members have already been vaccinated, he explained.

According to Minister Rambukwella, nearly 2 million schoolchildren are expected to be vaccinated against the novel coronavirus under this inoculation program.

Meanwhile, the Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA) has recommended the administration of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to schoolchildren aged 12 - 18 years.

In a press release issued yesterday (Sep. 08), the association pointed out that children in this age group generally do not get severe disease, however, children with underlying diseases may do so. Accordingly, the SLMA suggested that they should be fully vaccinated with Pfizer shots.