Children with thalassemia vaccinated today at LRH, Kurunegala, Anuradhapura Hospitals

By Rathindra Kuruwita

Children over the age of 12 suffering from thalassemia would be vaccinated for COVID-19 today at the Lady Ridgeway, Kurunegala and Anuradhapura Hospitals, Director of the Lady Ridgeway Children’s Hospital, Dr. G. Wijesuriya said yesterday.

Dr. Wijesuriya said that it would be the first step in vaccinating children with comorbidities. By next Monday, hospitals in the Western Province above the base hospital level including the cancer hospital will start vaccinating children over 12 with comorbidities. This will be followed by hospitals in other provinces, he added.

“We have a list of comorbidities. In our case, parents can register their children through our website. They can reserve a time and get children vaccinated under specialist healthcare. We will use Pfizer and before vaccinating a specialist will check the child. If the child has high fever, diarrhoea or nausea, we will not vaccinate them,” he said.

Deputy Director General of Health Services, Dr. Hemantha Herath told the media yesterday that vaccinating children and opening schools were separate issues. Even if all children over 12 were vaccinated, the Ministry of Education needed to set down guidelines and protocols to ensure students maintained good health practices.

“If this is not done, we can’t guarantee that there won’t be clusters around schools. I have said this earlier as well. This is not something the Health Ministry can decide on its own,” he said.