Israel to roll out Covid vax for kids below 5 years in April

JERUSALEM: Israel is expected to start vaccines for babies and toddlers, between six months and 5 years, by April, according to a senior health official. Currently vaccines are available in the country for adults, and children aged five and above.

"In Israel vaccines are available now for everybody aged five and over. I believe by April this year it will be expanded for any age above six months," Dr Asher Shalmon, the Health Ministry's director for international relations, said in a briefing to foreign policymakers and journalists this week.

US drugmaker Pfizer is in the process of conducting clinical trials to lower the approved age for its vaccine from five years to six months, Times of Israel reported. Pfizer had reported last month that in its ongoing trial of children aged six months to five years, "no safety concerns were identified" and the vaccine "demonstrated a favourable safety profile."

The company is currently checking responses to a regimen of three mini doses for under-5s, after finding that a two-dose approach provoked a strong response among children aged 6-24 months, but was not very strong in children aged two to five years, the report said. IANS

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