SYRACUSE – This afternoon, the start of the coronavirus vaccination for children aged 5-11 at the Urban Hub in Syracuse, turned into a celebratory moment as the first children and their parents were welcomed by an animation of Association volunteers. A regional division of the Italian Red Cross, turned clowns for the occasion, is in a colorful path of toys, candy, paraphernalia and balloons.
To agree to start vaccinating children at 13 dedicated pediatric vaccination centers across the county, the presence in the Hub on Nino Piccio Road was for ASP General Manager Salvatore Lucio Ficarra and Health Director Salvatore Madoña together to Director of Pediatrics at Umberto Hospital I in Syracuse Maria Assunta Vitale, to the center’s coordinators, psychologists, social workers in the URP, volunteers, nurses, hospitals and pediatricians in the field of regional vaccination are in service thanks to the agreement signed at the local level between the company and the class.
Director-General Salvatore Lucio Ficarra said: “Coronavirus vaccination provides an important tool to protect children from the risk of serious disease – and we enthusiastically welcome the opportunity and willingness of parents to vaccinate their children. We thank health workers, doctors, nurses, psychologists, social workers and computer scientists across all regions of the world. Our district vaccination centers, but above all, parents who without their consent cannot vaccinate children while there are already many of them, the first – reservations, who understood the importance of protecting everyone, young and old.”
To date, the vaccination campaign from 12 years onwards has reached a Syracuse County vaccination rate of about 83 percent with the first dose, about 80 percent with the second dose and 14 percent with the third dose. Almost all of the population is eligible while almost everyone over their 80s are vaccinated at more than 90 percent. “We also take this opportunity to re-launch the call for mass vaccination because the more people vaccinate, the faster we will overcome this epidemic,” the Director-General added.
Children can access the vaccination through a dedicated path and reserved lanes through a reservation which must be made on the portal operated by Poste Italiane. “There are 53 children booked for the first day, 36 of them are in the Syracuse Center, 170 are already booked until December 31 – explained Director of Health Salvatore Madonia -, We have created environments dedicated to children with a welcome clowns, music, games and sweets that make this moment even more joyful and welcoming. Initiative By company management to further humanize contact with children. We hope that bookings will increase because it has been shown that hospitalizations are decreasing while patients are often not immune.”
The vaccine for children 5 to 11 years of age is Kommernate (BioNTech/Pfizer), in the Aifa-approved specific formulation, at a dose reduced to about one third compared to a dose over 12 years old. A second dose, three weeks after the first.
The list of active children’s vaccination centers in Syracuse County is published in the “Children’s Covid 19 vaccination centers” section of the company’s website www.asp.sr.it.
