Photo: Google

By THE PULSE NEWS MEXICO STAFF

Children in Mexico with compromised health will begin receiving covid-19 vaccinations as of mid-October, the government announced Friday, Oct. 24.

Speaking during the daily press conference of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), Undersecretary of Public Health Hugo López-Gatell said that Mexican children between the ages of 12 and 17 with chronic health issues will now be eligible to receive the Pfizer vaccine, which is the only anti-covid inoculation that has so far been approved by the government for use by minors, starting “in the second week of October.”

The decision comes in response to public outrage and a series of legal wins by parents of children with compromised health, demanding access to the vaccine for their offspring.

López-Gatell, who is AMLO’s official covid czar, said that the government expects to vaccinate between 750,000 and 1.5 million qualifying minors  under the new ruling.

He went on to say that, unlike adults, who are inoculated exclusively in federal vaccination units, children and adolescents will be able to receive their shots at public health institutions.

López-Gatell said that on Tuesday, Sept. 28, the government will announce the guidelines for vaccinating minors, along with a complete list of eligible chronic diseases.

However, he said that he anticipated that among the conditions that would be included are: immunosuppression (cancer, HIV, transplants); severe chronic lung disease; chronic neurological disease; kidney, liver or digestive system disease; cardiovascular disease; diabetes and other endocrine disease (includes obesity grade 2 or greater); and genetic or chromosomal abnormalities.

He also said that pregnant adolescents will be vaccinated.

Eligible minors can be registered via the Public Health Secretariat’s webpage starting  Friday, Oct. 1.