Vaccination of Teenagers

Peru's Ministry of Health has authorised the use of a vaccine from the US pharmaceutical company Pfizer against coronavirus to immunise teenagers aged 12 years and older. This was announced on Monday by the head of the ministry, Oscar Ugarte.

"Pfizer is one of the few that has conducted the study on 12-18 year olds. This is already permitted in the US. We have made the same decision. But this does not mean that a decision has been taken to start vaccinating this age group", Peru 21 quoted the official as saying on its website. As the newspaper specifies, the Ministry of Health of Peru has issued the respective decree dated June 17.

According to the minister, vaccination of this rather large group will require additional logistical measures, so for the time being the authorities intend to continue the vaccination campaign among adults. Vaccination of adolescents against coronavirus may not begin until the third quarter of this year. According to the official, this would allow the resumption of face-to-face classes in schools starting next year.

According to the Health Ministry, the country has more than 2m confirmed cases of COVID-19 and about 190,000 deaths from its effects. There are more than 580 deaths per 100,000 residents, the worst rate in the world, Johns Hopkins University experts say.