Berlin: Little children in Vienna can begin to get coronavirus vaccination next week as part of the pilot project, Austria Media reported on Saturday.
Austria Broadcasters ORF reported that around 200 children between the ages of 5 and 11 can obtain Jab Vaccine Pfizer / Bonech every day in the Austrian capital starting Monday.
The pilot project is limited to Vienna and does not apply to all countries.
While in the United States or Israel, children from this age group have officially been vaccinated against Covid-19, the European Medicine Agency, which regulates the agreement in the European Union, has not provided vaccinations of children under the age of 12.
The EU drug regulator said Earlier this week it has begun to evaluate whether it will authorize modern Covid-19 vaccines for children aged 5 to 11, and have evaluated vaccines made by Pfizer-Bontech for use in the same age group since last month.
The agency has not said when exactly will make a decision on two vaccines but the media has reported that at least for Pfizer / Bionontech decisions can come before Christmas.
When the number of infections increased across the continent at a worrying speed, vaccination approval for children would bring the highest expected – to relieve millions of families throughout the EU.
Apart from the lack of official emergency agreements, some pediatricians in Austria have vaccinated children from this age group, because demand is very high because the infection rate in the country spiking, ORF reported.
“Interest in vaccination off-label is very large,” Peter Voitl, a pediatrician and vaccination with the Vienna medical association, told Orf.
“We vaccinate the age group 5 to 11 at our clinic and have several hundred people on the waiting list.” Austria has faced a trend of an alarming infection in recent weeks.
The country reported 13,152 new cases on Saturday, up from 11,798 the day before.
The seven-day infection rate is at 775.5 new cases per 100,000 residents.
In comparison, the tariff is at 277.4 in the German neighboring country, which has also sounded an increased alarm.
On Friday, the Austrian government said it would apply locking for people who were not vaccinated in two rushed areas next week.
The government will announce further national virus restrictions on Sundays.
Austria has one of the lowest level vaccination in Western Europe: around 65% of the total population is fully vaccinated, and 67.8% has received at least one dose vaccine.