Russia (bbabo.net), - The issue of issuing QR codes as an incentive for adolescent vaccination was not considered at all, Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday, January 13. He was not asked questions by chance: the head of the Gamaleya Center, Alexander Gintsburg, said that the Sputnik M vaccine for schoolchildren aged 12-17 is ready, and immunization of children will start next week.
On January 13, the Ministry of Health did not clarify the details of the organization of the children's vaccination campaign, as well as the timing of its start. But the strategy remains the same: vaccinations will be strictly voluntary, there are no plans to introduce any restrictions for those who do not want to. The start of the campaign depends on the readiness of the regions. At a recent meeting held by the ministry with the participation of all territories, this topic was actively discussed. And the regions have already begun preparations.
In St. Petersburg, for example, they plan to receive a vaccine within the next ten days, Dmitry Lisovets, head of the St. Petersburg Health Committee, announced this after a meeting at the Ministry of Health. In St. Petersburg, as in Moscow, the parents of schoolchildren are called from polyclinics - they are invited to sign up for a vaccination. True, this work has been going on here for several months - as part of clinical trials of a children's vaccine.
Other regions are also moving in. In the Rostov region, class teachers must provide school nurses with lists of those who agree to be vaccinated by January 17. Parents share this information in school chats, IA Regnum reports.
Vaccination points for adolescents have been set up in the Nizhny Novgorod region. The regional Ministry of Health reported that vaccination teams have already been organized to work in them. According to the forecasts of the Minister of Health of the Orenburg Region Tatyana Savinova, by the end of this week there should be an understanding of how much children's vaccine the region will receive. Chief physicians were also instructed to compile lists of children whose parents are ready to be vaccinated, according to the city information portal prooren.ru. The Minister of Education of the Orenburg Region, Alexei Pakhomov, has already spoken on a local TV channel and once again confirmed that "no one will force anyone." Lists of children are compiled in order to have an understanding of exactly how much vaccine needs to be delivered to specific institutions. By the way, Pakhomov said that he plans to vaccinate his eldest son, although he had been ill with the coronavirus. And the regional minister once again assured that no one would remove unvaccinated children from school. There is no legal basis for this.
Parents are discussing the vaccination of their children against coronavirus infection in school chats
Recall that the vaccine against COVID-19 for adolescents aged 12-17 was included in the national vaccination calendar in the section on epidemic indications at the end of December 2021. The Ministry of Health emphasized that this does not make the vaccination of minors mandatory, but is necessary primarily in order to plan the volume of production of the drug. After all, the implementation of the vaccination calendar is financed at the expense of state funds.
"The inclusion of vaccination of adolescents from 12 to 18 years of age against a new coronavirus infection in the Immunization Calendar according to epidemiological indications in no way makes vaccination mandatory for this age group," Alexei Kuznetsov, Assistant Minister of Health, confirmed. Vaccination is exclusively voluntary: vaccination will be done only with the written consent of one of the parents or legal representative. And older students aged 15-17 will themselves draw up consent to vaccination.
Gintsburg once again reminded yesterday that there are several reasons for vaccinating children: children are active participants in the epidemic process, they can become spreaders of the infection, infecting their parents and grandparents. In addition, when infected with delta, children get sick more severely than before.
As for the vaccination of teachers, teachers are included in the list of categories for which vaccination is mandatory. In case of refusal to be vaccinated, according to the explanations of the Russian Ministry of Labor, teachers should not be allowed to work.
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