A doctor suggested that the government should delay the reopening of schools to allow students time to receive their full vaccine dosage.
The Ministry of Health is expected to roll out the two-dose Pfizer vaccine for children 12 years and older this week.
Dr. Jason Belizaire is attached to Sir Lester Bird Medical Centre and is also a member of the COVID-19 Vaccination National Technical Working Group.
He said he registered his 16-year-old son for the vaccine and encouraged other parents to do the same.
“I had my wife call the hotline. They called her back on Friday and said… that he is to go to the Multipurpose Centre at 9:30 on Wednesday and get his vaccine done,” Dr. Belizaire told Pointe Fm on Saturday.
“I would advise all parents with kids aged 12 to 18 to get their children vaccinated before you send them back to school,” he said.
According to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine recipients should take their doses 3 weeks (21 days) apart.
“You should get your second shot as close to the recommended 3-week interval as possible. However, your second dose may be given up to 6 weeks (42 days) after the first dose, if necessary”, the CDC states on its website.
Schools are scheduled to reopen, in just two weeks, on September 6.
To ensure students have enough time to get both doses, Dr Belizaire advised, “Some consideration… should be given, to maybe even delaying the start of school because once school starts, you’re dealing with a super-spreader event.”
“As much as we try to… and the schools do their best to enforce the protocols, I think we have to realize that school is a potential super-spreader event. Children are still children,” he said.
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