Denmark and Cambodia begins Covid-19 vaccinations for teenagers

Denmark and Cambodia are amongst countries that have started vaccinating teenagers in a bid to faster reach herd immunity.

In Cambodia, the vaccination of teens aged between 12 to 17 years old began on Sunday 1 August in the country’s capital of Phnom Penh and three provinces. The grandchildren of Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen’s grandchildren were among the first to get the vaccine and they received their first dose of the Chinese-made Sinovac covid-19 vaccine.

According to the Prime Minister, the vaccination for children is a key step to herd immunity in communities and he said that two million teenagers are expected to be vaccinated in Cambodia while the country is also mulling vaccinating children aged ten and eleven.

In Denmark, all 12 to 15-year-olds were invited to be vaccinated against Covid-19 on 14 July. Everyone over the age of 16 had already been invited and the steps to start the vaccination of the younger group came after the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech was approved for children from 12 years of age at the end of May. 

Speaking on the matter, unit manager Bolette Søborg at the Ministry of Health said, “We now have a more contagious virus variant, and we, therefore, need immunity in the population, not least when we go into the autumn in a few months. By offering vaccination to children and young people between the ages of 12 and 15, we build immunity in the population, which can help us maintain control of the epidemic and protect those who are at particular risk. ”

France and Lithuania have also begun vaccinating children in a bid to faster reach herd immunity.

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