Children between the ages of 12 and 17 will be able to get one shot of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine from next week, the Department of Health announced on Friday.

Minister Dr Joe Phaahla said registrations for children on the electronic vaccination data system will open on Wednesday, 20 October and they will be able to get the vaccine at any of the current vaccination sites.

He said that given the risk, even though minimal, of myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) that were seen in a small number of children who received a second dose of the Pfizer vaccine, the department will wait for more research to be done before giving a second shot to this age group.

Phaahla said where myocarditis was identified as a side-effect of the vaccine, the cases were short-lived, only occurred after the second dose and was slight. 

“We will space the second dose after we have received more information,” he said.

“I want to assure parents that even where this side-effect was noticed, it caused no permanent damage,” he added.

The registration system and vaccinations would open for all children between the ages of 12 and 17 on Wednesday.

Phaahla said at this stage only the Pfizer vaccine has been approved for this age group by the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority.

“We believe that this will become handy as school starts examinations,” he said.

The acting director-general of the Department of Health, Dr Nicholas Crisp, said the vaccinations will only be administered at vaccination sites, not at schools. 

“There is too much to organise. We will look at that for next year. For this roll-out the vaccine will be available at public and private vaccination sites,” he said.

He said they were making changes to the Electronic Vaccination Data System (EVDS) system to allow for a consent form that is suitable for the age group. The Children’s Act makes it possible for children over 12 to give consent for certain medical procedures without their parents agreeing.

They hoped to get to the Grade 12 pupils in time so they have a few days to get over any side-effects before starting their final exams.

Crisp said schools will not be used at this stage because there are certain agreements around consent given for vaccinations that must be sorted out.

He said there are about six million children between the ages of 12 and 17 in South Africa.

“It will be good to get hold of at least half of them before the end of the exam.”

Professor Glenda Gray, president of the South African Medical Research Council, said she believes there is an abundance of caution when it comes to moving forward with the Pfizer vaccine for this age group.

“I don’t think it is a big risk at all. It is a very rare side-effect seen after millions of kids in the US and Europe have already had two jabs. We are very cautious, which is probably not warranted,” she added.

Phaahla said there had been a 28% reduction in new infections in the country and a 3.5% decrease in new hospital admissions, but this meant that there were still more than 5,000 people in hospital. They hoped to see a significant reduction in hospital admissions over the next two weeks. Nationally the positivity rate is 2.7%.

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