The anti Covid vaccinations of young patients aged between 12 and 15 started today at the Policlinico di Bari. In the outpatient clinics set up inside the hospital, the children under treatment at the pediatric oncohematology operating unit and their families received the administration of the Pfizer-Biontech vaccine.
Vaccines, Aifa authorizes Pfizer for 12-15 year olds. Ok also from the EU Commission
The vaccinations were carried out by a multidisciplinary medical team that brought together Hygiene professionals and Oncohematology specialists. Immediately after Aifa gave the ok to vaccinations of adolescents, the control room of the university hospital had taken steps to acquire from the wards the lists of children and young people being treated at the facilities. Yesterday, following the national and regional circulars that authorized the administration, the families of the frail children were called and summoned.
To ensure complete protection from the virus, the entire family unit was vaccinated: parents, brothers or sisters aged 12 and over, caregivers. The vaccinations will continue in the coming days in the vaccination clinics set up in the Giovanni XXIII hospital or in the pediatric operating units of the Bari Polyclinic in a protected environment.
The first under 16 to have received the anti-Covid vaccine in Puglia is Teodoro, 15-year-old from Brindisi, cancer patient undergoing treatment at the Bari Polyclinic: he received the first Pfizer dose this morning with his 19-year-old brother and mother Anna, 52enne.
“Initially I had some doubts – Anna admits – but then I realized that the vaccine would be the only way out. And then I’m happy for my son, who is a fragile patient and will have extra protection. It was he who gave me courage, this morning he was very convinced to come to the hospital for the vaccine. Then it was the turn of Graziano, 12 year old from Bari, who got vaccinated with his 15 year old brother. The two, accompanied by their mother Anna, were the only ones not yet vaccinated in the family. “In recent months we have felt in prison – says the mother -, we have avoided any chance of contagion, from haircuts at the barber to school and supermarkets. Now we hope to resume our life and maybe go on vacation”.
There are a total of 500 12-15 year olds who will be vaccinated in the Polyclinic and today it is the turn of the first twenty pediatric oncohematology patients undergoing chemotherapy treatment. From next week we will continue with pediatric patients suffering from metabolic, neurological, immunological diseases and with those under treatment in the wards of pediatrics, child neuropsychiatry and cardiology.
“The Polyclinic, which has already secured over 13,000 adults suffering from pathologies through vaccines, is once again at the forefront of vaccinating the frail – explains the dg John Best – providing specialist pediatric personnel and protected environments for administering doses to the little ones under treatment in our centers “.
“Children are the most important thing we have and we must protect them especially when they have fragility that thanks to the vaccine they will overcome with greater peace of mind”, declares the president Michele Emiliano, speaking of “great satisfaction” for the start of the under-16 administration in Bari, among the first in Italy.
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