Copenhagen: Children in Denmark between the ages of 12 and 15 will soon be offered the opportunity to be voluntarily vaccinated against Covid-19, "possibly" from this September, Soren Brostrom, director general of the Danish Health Authority, said at a press conference here on Thursday.
"In September, we will finish offering the vaccines against Covid-19 to everyone above the age of 16. ... But we need more population immunity. Therefore, we will offer the vaccine to 12 to 15-year-olds. This will help us maintain epidemic control over the winter," Brostrom said.
According to the director, the health authority will consult international experiences and safety data on vaccination of children and young people before the rollout, the Xinhusa news agency reported.
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The decision to allow the vaccination of 12 to 15-year-olds in Denmark has been greatly assisted by approval of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for use in children aged 12 years and older by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in May.
The Statens Serum Institute (SSI), the country's infectious diseases agency, has registered 331 new Covid-19 infections and one death in the past 24 hours, bringing the national totals to 291,017 cases and 2,528 deaths.
The SSI said on Thursday that 49.5 per cent of the Danish population, or nearly 2.9 million people, had already received at least one vaccine dose. Of them, some 1.57 million, or 26.9 per cent, are fully vaccinated.