Ireland ready to offer Covid vaccine to children as rollout begins in Israel for five-11 year olds

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The State stands ready to administer Covid vaccines to primary school children if European regulators approve it, the Taoiseach has said.

Micheál Martin said, however, it was unlikely children in the five to 11 age group will get the jab here before Christmas, given the timeline and logistics involved.

In Israel, the administering of the vaccine to children aged five to 11 has begun.

The country recently emerged from a fourth Covid wave, and daily infections have been relatively low for the last few weeks.

But Health Ministry statistics show that a large share of the new infections have been in children and teenagers.

Children aged five to 11 make up nearly half of active cases.

Officials hope the new inoculation campaign will help bring down the numbers and perhaps stave off a new wave.

Israeli media reported low demand for the shots on the first day they were available to this age group.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett was expected to accompany his son later on Tuesday to get his jab in a bid to encourage parents to have their children vaccinated.

Israel, which has a population of more than nine million, has had more than 1.3 million infections since the start of the pandemic and more than 8,100 deaths.

Israeli media reported low demand for the shots on the first day they were available to this age group. Picture: AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner

Speaking in Cork city yesterday, the Taoiseach said the European Medicines Agency (EMA), which has since October been evaluating the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine on children aged between five and 11, is expected to issue its recommendation soon – possibly within the next two weeks.

“My view there is that we will then have to go to Niac here but I would support the rollout to children in due course once it’s authorised by the relevant authorities who have the clinical expertise to make that recommendation,” he said.

“But we have to get the recommendation from the EMA, similar to the FDA, and that I believe is due within the next week or two, but then there will be a different calibration here because the dosage for children will be much lower than the dosage for adults.

But it’s something on the horizon and on the agenda – all in the context of the advice we will receive.” 

 However, he said it was unlikely children under 12 here will get vaccines before Christmas, given the logistical and organisational issue involved around manufacturing, distributing and administering smaller doses for children.

“It’s on the horizon and on the agenda and I know the Chief Medical Officer and others are very conscious of what’s going on at the European level and what’s going on in the United States in terms of FDA approval, and the research that is coming on stream in respect of the vaccine and children and its efficacy, so it’s a further step on the road to dealing with this pandemic and we will certainly be ready when those recommendations come,” he said.

Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech has submitted data to the EMA that they say supports the use of their mRNA vaccine for young children.

The vaccine was found to induce a strong immune response in five- to 11-year-olds in a clinical trial of 2,268 participants, the companies said in September.

Additional reporting by AP