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Authorities wary of low vaccination rates for children
Christian Wenande
December 28th, 2021
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This article is more than 3 years old.
Experts are concerned about reopening schools with the high infection rate and low vaccination among the group aged 5-11
A bit too close for comfort? (photo: Pixabay)
Denmark saw a record high 16,164 new COVID-19 cases yesterday and according to Our World in Data, the country now has one of the highest infection rates per capita in the world.
So the health authorities are concerned about the low vaccination rate among 5-11-year-olds, given that they are due to return to school on January 5.
As it stands, just 38 percent of the age group has begun the vaccination process, leading the government to urge parents to get their kids jabbed as soon as possible.
“We can see that it had a beneficial effect on infection among the younger age groups when the schools were shut down before Christmas,” said health minister, Magnus Heunicke.
“But we still need to vaccinate more of the youngest school kids so the infection doesn’t skyrocket in the schools when they open in January.”
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Schools could close again
Just 1.3 percent of the aged group has been completely vaccinated.
The State Serum Insititute (SSI), warned that the low frequency of vaccinations among the children could lead to schools again being shut down in the coming weeks.
“We clearly want more school kids vaccinated, because that’s what it will take to keep the schools open over the next month, as we will see the Omikron spread at a much higher rate,” said Tyra Grove Krause, SSI’s head of Department for Infection Preparedness.
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