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Child vaccines booked out on first day

Evan Harding

Covid-19 vaccines for children aged 5-11 are booked out at an Invercargill clinic yesterday, the first day they have become available.

Among the first kids to receive the vaccine were siblings Willow and Eddie Murray, aged 8 and 5, who attended the Civic Theatre clinic with their parents, Olivia and Matt, yesterday morning.

Olivia, a nurse at Southland Hospital, said she was stoked to get her children vaccinated as soon as possible.

‘‘We want them protected, we know how dangerous and life-threatening Covid is, even to children,’’ she said.

‘‘It’s out there and we want to do as much as we can to protect them.’’

Invercargill clinic manager April Muijs said bookings for 5-11-year-olds opened at midnight on Sunday and yesterday morning the clinic was booked out for the day.

She was unsure how many children were getting vaccinated yesterday.

Given the initial demand, she expected bookings for youngsters to be busy for the remainder of the week.

More than 120,000 doses of the child (paediatric) Pfizer vaccine have been delivered to over 500 vaccination sites around New Zealand as health providers prepare to start immunising 5 to 11-year-olds tamariki from yesterday.

The Covid-19 vaccine used for children has a lower dose and smaller volume than the adult vaccine and is administered using a smaller needle.

To be fully immunised against Covid19 a child needs to get two doses of the vaccine, usually given at least eight weeks apart.

There are 476,300 children aged between 5-11 years in New Zealand eligible for the child Pfizer vaccine.

– To find out which centres are offering the child Pfizer vaccine this week visit the Unite Against Covid website. Parents and caregivers can book online at BookMyVaccine.nz or make a whānau booking by calling the Covid Vaccination Healthline on 0800 28 29 26. Many general practices are also offering child vaccinations for their enrolled patients – contact your local doctor to find out more.

‘‘. . . we know how dangerous and lifethreatening Covid is, even to children.’’ Olivia Murray Nurse

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2022-01-18T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-01-18T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://fairfaxmedia.pressreader.com/article/281543704291892

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