COVID-19: vaccination recommended and possible for children from the beginning of January
Bern, 14.12.2021 - The Federal Office of Public Health FOPH and the Federal Commission for Vaccination FCV also recommend two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine for children aged between five and eleven. If they wish, parents or legal guardians can have their child vaccinated on the basis of an individual assessment of the benefits and risks, as soon as the vaccination is available. The recommendation is based on the authorisation by Swissmedic of the Comirnaty® mRNA vaccine from Pfizer/BioNTech for children aged between five and eleven.
The FCV and FOPH recommendation particularly applies to children in this age group who already have serious health risks owing to a chronic condition. The vaccination is recommended as a priority for children who have close contact with people at especially high risk in the same household who cannot obtain protection from vaccination, for example because they have a weakened immune system.
Finally, the vaccine recommendation also applies particularly to children in this age group who have recovered from COVID-19 if they are particularly at risk themselves, or if they have close contact with people who are at especially high risk or are immunocompromised such that vaccination does not protect them. One dose of vaccine is sufficient for these children.
The vaccination is not currently recommended for any other children who have recovered from COVID-19.
Children can be vaccinated from January
Only the special Comirnaty® formulation for children, as authorised by Swissmedic on 10 December 2021, can be used to vaccinate children aged between 5 and 11. As usual, Pfizer will deliver these vaccine doses three to four weeks after authorisation. The Comirnaty vaccines for children will thus be available in Switzerland from the beginning of January 2022.
The vaccination of children aged between five and eleven is free of charge. The administration of vaccinations for children is done in the same way as for adult vaccinations. Switzerland has ordered enough vaccines to allow children in this age group to be vaccinated.
The cantons will decide and announce from when and where parents can register their child for a vaccination.
Address for enquiries
Federal Office of Public Health, Communication
Infoline Coronavirus +41 58 463 00 00
COVID-19 vaccination infoline +41 58 377 88 92
Infoline for people travelling to Switzerland +41 58 464 44 88
Publisher
Federal Office of Public Health
http://www.bag.admin.ch