The Lao Government will start inoculating children aged 6 to 11 nationwide from January next year. (Photo: XINHUA/VNA Photo)Vientiane (VNA) –The Lao Government will start inoculating children aged 6 to 11 nationwide fromJanuary next year, according to the Lao Ministry of Health.
The ministry said health agencies at provincial and district levels have already been assigned to collect the number of childreneligible for vaccination with the Pfizer vaccine.
Health workers will inform parentsabout the importance of vaccination and encourage them to register for their childrento help people have a better understanding of vaccination, it said, addingthat children can only receive vaccine shots with parents’ consent.
Inoculation for childrenaged 6-11 will begin in the capital Vientiane, but provinces that are ready toroll out the programme can also do so in advance. The Lao Ministry of Health saidthat it will evaluate the success of the COVID-19 vaccination programme forchildren aged 12-17 after it finishes at the end of next month.
The Lao government hopes thatif a certain amount of children is vaccinated, schools will be deemed safe andallowed to reopen.
The COVID-19 cases in Laoscontinued to increase with 1,291 new infections reported on November 30,bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 73,738.
All of the new cases werelocal transmissions, and 6,273 tests were conducted across the country over thelast 24 hours, according to Sisavath Soutthaniraxay, Deputy Director General of the Department ofCommunicable Diseases Control under Lao Ministry of Health.
Vientiane capital reported the highest number of new cases with 615. Four new deaths were recordedover the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 170, said Sisavath./.
