The Lao Government will start inoculating children aged 6 to 11 nationwide from January next year. (Photo: XINHUA/VNA Photo) Vientiane (VNA) – The Lao Government will start inoculating children aged 6 to 11 nationwide from January next year, according to the Lao Ministry of Health.
The ministry said health agencies at provincial and district levels have already been assigned to collect the number of children eligible for vaccination with the Pfizer vaccine.
Health workers will inform parents about the importance of vaccination and encourage them to register for their children to help people have a better understanding of vaccination, it said, adding that children can only receive vaccine shots with parents’ consent.
Inoculation for children aged 6-11 will begin in the capital Vientiane, but provinces that are ready to roll out the programme can also do so in advance. The Lao Ministry of Health said that it will evaluate the success of the COVID-19 vaccination programme for children aged 12-17 after it finishes at the end of next month.
The Lao government hopes that if a certain amount of children is vaccinated, schools will be deemed safe and allowed to reopen.
The COVID-19 cases in Laos continued to increase with 1,291 new infections reported on November 30, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 73,738.
All of the new cases were local transmissions, and 6,273 tests were conducted across the country over the last 24 hours, according to Sisavath Soutthaniraxay, Deputy Director General of the Department of Communicable Diseases Control under Lao Ministry of Health.
Vientiane capital reported the highest number of new cases with 615. Four new deaths were recorded over the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 170, said Sisavath./.
