Swiss to Start Pfizer/BioNTech Jab for Children Aged 5-11 in January

ZURICH
Swiss President Guy Parmelin talks to Swiss Interior and Health Minister Alain Berset after a news conference on the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Bern, Switzerland, November 30, 2021. (REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann)

Swiss health authorities will start administering the COVID-19 vaccination from Pfizer and BioNTech to children aged five to 11 from next month and recommend kids get two doses of the shot.

“If they wish, parents or legal guardians can have their child vaccinated on the basis of an individual assessment of the benefits and risks, as soon as the vaccination is available,” the Federal Office of Public Health said on Tuesday.

Supplies should be available from the beginning of January, it added.

The recommendation particularly applies to children who already have serious health risks owing to a chronic condition. The vaccination is recommended as a priority for children who have close contact with people at especially high risk in the same household who cannot obtain protection from vaccination, for example because they have a weakened immune system, it said.

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