Copenhagen, Nov 27, : The Danish Health Authority recommends Covid-19 vaccination to children aged 5-11 years old as a “crucial weapon” in keeping society open. “We have seen an increase of infection rate among children.
This is due to both Covid-19’s Delta variant and the more open society we have entered in the autumn,” Helene Probst (deputy director of the SST) stated to Xinhua news agency.
This recommendation comes after the European Medicines Agency has recently recommended that the Covid-19 vaccine Comirnaty be used by children aged between five and eleven years.
Probst stated that vaccinations are voluntary and could be initiated in Denmark as soon as Sunday.
Tyra Grove Krause (acting academic director of Statens Serum Institut) (SSI) called for restrictions on entry to Denmark after Belgium reported the first instance of a new Covid variant, currently dubbed B.1.1.529.This variant was first discovered in South Africa.
Krause says that the new variant, which is highly mutated, is likely to be resistant to vaccines and spread far more easily.
Krause stated that “it has spread in South Africa, in many areas where it has been discovered there has been a large rise in infections,” Krause added, adding that the SSI proposed tightening travel restrictions to and fro South Africa and six other countries bordering it.
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, has issued a statement urging member states of the European Union (EU), to suspend flights to countries where the virus variant has been detected.
She stated that all air travel to these countries should be stopped until there is a clear understanding of the danger posed from this new variant.
The SSI has recorded 4,076 new Covid-19 cases and nine deaths, bringing the national total to 470,893 cases, and 2,850 deaths.
According to SSI data 77.5 percent of the country’s population (or 4,553,329) have started the process of vaccination.4,447,093 people, or 75.7 percent, have been fully vaccinated.
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