Germany begins vaccinating kids aged 5-11

Berlin: Germany has launched its Covid-19 inoculation campaign for children aged between five and 11 years with pre-existing conditions based on the recommendation of the country's Standing Committee on Vaccination (STIKO).

This week, low-dose BioNTech/Pfizer vaccines will be distributed to paediatricians and vaccination centres for administration in all federal states, the Ministry of Health (BMG) said.

German paediatricians expect a high uptake of vaccination in the targeted age group, reports Xinhua news agency.

"This was already the case with the vaccination of adolescents," Thomas Fischbach, president of the Professional Association of Paediatricians and Adolescents (BVKJ), told the Rheinische Post newspaper.

According to the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV), the country's paediatricians have ordered around 800,000 vaccine doses for children for this week, which are to be delivered by Wednesday at the latest.

Till date, almost 58 million people in Germany have been fully inoculated against Covid-19, bringing the country's vaccination rate to 69.6 per cent, according to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases.

Around 24 percent have already received a booster shot.

Although Germany is experiencing slight declines in all key transmission parameters (daily infections, seven-day incidence and hospitalization rates), experts have warned that data may be underreported due to the country's overloaded healthcare system.