The Minister of Health, Ala Nemerenco, the responsibility of the critics who appeared in the society after the announcement of the Agency of Medicines and Medical Devices to start the vaccination against COVID-19 among children aged between 12 and 18 years. The head of Health says that vaccination remains voluntary, and in the case of children it can take place only with the consent of parents. The minister says that the authorities do not insist on vaccinating children, because they are more susceptible to the disease and do not host their health system, notes IPN.

The Minister of Health says that the authority’s announcement on the possibility of vaccinating 12-year-old children should not scare parents, because the vaccine is not mandatory. Ala Nemerenco rules out the possibility of organizing vaccination campaigns in educational institutions.

“The Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices has registered permission to vaccinate children aged 12 to 18 with this type of vaccine and we can say that every parent who cares to want to vaccinate their child, has the opportunity to do so. I want to reassure parents who aggressively accept this decision, no one will go to schools with vaccination. It is an action that will come only from parents who have read, been informed and want to vaccinate their children “, said Ala Nemerenco during the show” Moldova live “from the public television station.

According to the minister, the actions of the vaccine promotion authorities remain focused on the category of adults. Because they often cause severe forms of the disease that require hospitalization. The head of Health says that, lately, the number of unvaccinated people hospitalized in intensive care units has increased by 66%.

“Vaccination of children is not our primary goal, when we talk about 70% vaccination rate to achieve collective immunity, it is a calculation based on the number of vaccinated adults. Even if children are the ones who transmit the infection at school or at home in the community of friends, we have an increase of only 3% of diseases among children. When we talk about vaccination, our goal remains the adult population that does not create massive pressure on intensive care units. Even if there will be 1000 parents who will agree to vaccinate their children, this will not change the course of transmitting the infection “, Nemerenco added.

According to the data of the Ministry of Health, the vaccination rate in the Republic of Moldova with a dose is 25%, and with a complete schedule – 24%. The highest vaccination rate with the complete scheme is registered in Chisinau – 36%. At the opposite pole are the districts of Leova, Sângerei and ATU Gagauzia (between 14% – 15%).

Also, 90% of medical workers are immunized with the full dose of vaccination, which led to a reduction in morbidity among them by 85%.