Africa-Press – Mauritius. The COVID-19 vaccination campaign for those aged between 15 and 17 with U. S. donated Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines was launched, today, in the presence of the Prime Minister, Mr Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, at Phoenix State Secondary School, Closel Road, in Phoenix.
The campaign will last till 20 October 2021 and 38 025 adolescents coming from 188 educational institutions (69 public schools, 100 private schools and 19 MITD centres) will be inoculated.
Mauritius received 76 050 Pfizer doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines on 23 September 2021. These doses are being administered to students and 10 mobile teams will visit 10 schools daily for this exercise. The consent form to get the jab will have to be signed by parents and the latter will be able to accompany the child during his vaccination.
The Vice-Prime Minister, Minister of Education, Tertiary Education, Science and Technology, Mrs Leela Devi Dookun-Luchoomun, the Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Kailesh Kumar Singh Jagutpal, the Acting Deputy Chief of Mission, U. S. Embassy, Mr Thomas D. Kohl, and other personalities were present at the launching.
In a statement, the Vice-Prime Minister emphasised that vaccination is extremely important and expressed satisfaction with regards to the good response in schools, the will of parents to have their ward getting the jab, and the number of students to have been inoculated, which stood at 4000.
According to her, the vaccination will provide additional protection to students especially with the full-fledge start of school on 18 October 2021. For the moment, only 50% of students are present in schools at any given time, but as from 18 October there will be more students, she remarked.
She also spoke of the consent form and highlighted that parents who are not willing to have their child inoculated will not be forced but there is an enhanced protection for those who will get vaccinated.
The Vice-Prime Minister also said that the consent form is the same form that has been used previously and it is important to know what vaccines are being administered as well as the responsibilities of everyone concerned. She underscored that the country would not have received vaccines if it did not abide by set conditions.
Certain parts of the world have not received vaccines and Mauritius is lucky to have vaccines which allows Government to extend the vaccination campaign to students for protection as schools will open, which in turn will allow students interact with their peers as they used to before COVID hit, she stated.
As for those who opt not to get the jab, it will be their choice and they will still be able to come to school, she underscored. Mrs Dookun-Luchoomun also announced that as soon as additional Pfizer vaccines reach Mauritius, the vaccination campaign will be extended to those aged 12 and above, that is, Grade 7 and above.
For his part, Dr Jagutpal, remarked that the vaccination campaign has started really well, and, is englobing all schools. The Ministry of Health and Wellness, will be present on a daily basis, across ten schools, and this will allow to administer between 350 and 400 vaccines per day, he highlighted.
Over 16 working days the targeted 38 025 students will be inoculated, he affirmed. Subsequently, after three weeks, the second dose of the vaccine will be rolled out, and this will represent an additional three percent of the population to have received their COVID-19 vaccines, he opined.
The Minister recalled that exceptionally today a derogation has been applied to allow all parents who have not been vaccinated to nonetheless accompany their wards while they are inoculated. As regards the consent form, Dr Jagutpal stated that since the beginning the same debate has been ongoing.
‘We know that if there is a consent form it is due to the vaccines which have been produced in a certain span of time and we have also to satisfy the manufacturers’ conditions and respect same’, he underlined.
The consent form remains unchanged and the only difference is that parents are required to sign the form, he indicated. The consent form will remain as it is and will be maintained as long as the vaccination campaign continues, he pointed out.
Speaking about compensations, the Health Minister underscored that a committee has been set up to examine side-effects triggered by the vaccines and if ever there is a person who has been majorly adversely affected there is a consolidated fund to allocate compensations in such cases.
The Minister expressed faith that gradually the number of people going for the booster dose will pick up over time and, he added, it is important to get the third dose.
As for Mr Kohl, he said that the US Government is very proud to donate more than 76 000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines to the people of Mauritius.
This donation is part of the Biden administration’s strategy to help save lives and end the pandemic, he indicated. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is the only vaccine that is approved in the world for use ages 12 to 17, he further observed.
Moreover, he congratulated the Mauritian Government, the Health and Education Ministries for their robust and very coordinated efforts in the vaccination campaign.
Safe and effective vaccines are absolutely the best way to end this pandemic, he emphasised. He also encouraged everybody to get vaccinated as soon as they possibly can.
It is wonderful to be here today to see the impact that these vaccines are having on Mauritius’s most valuable and precious resource, its young people, he concluded.
