Chilean health officials approved the use of the Sinovac CoronaVac vaccine for kids ages six and up on Monday, making it the first Latin American country to do so.
CoronaVac has been the backbone of Chile's vaccination campaign, which has so far seen more than 13 million of the country's 19 million people fully vaccinated and 19.49 million CoronaVac doses distributed.
"This is great news for school-age children and those that were not included in previous vaccination plans," Health Minister Enrique Paris said.
Five of the specialists on the Institute of Public Health's (ISP) evaluation panel voted in favor of giving the shot to children over the age of six, two voted in favor of giving it solely to those over the age of 12, and one voted against giving it to children.
The Health Ministry must now select when and how vaccinations will begin.
The decision was made at a time when the South American country had fully immunize over three-quarters of its adult population.
The Sinovac effects on 4,000 children aged three to 17 are being studied by the Catholic University of Chile. The ISP's judgment was based on an examination of evidence provided by the Sinovac laboratory as well as information published in medical journals.
CoronaVac has also received emergency approval in Indonesia for use in children. Only a few countries in Latin America have approved the Pfizer vaccine for children ages 12 and up. Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccinations for children ages 3 to 17 have been approved in China.
Few regulators throughout the world have evaluated the safety of COVID-19 vaccinations in children, but approvals are beginning to emerge. The Pfizer vaccine is approved for use in children as young as 12 in the United States, Canada, Singapore, and Hong Kong.
In recent weeks, Chile has seen a significant decrease in infection rates, with only 435 new cases reported on Monday. COVID-19 cases have been confirmed in 1.6 million people, with 37,108 deaths.
The ISP approved the Chinese vaccine for emergency use in Chile in 2021, based on the recommendations of a committee of specialists constituted for the evaluation of virus vaccines, which advised its use for adults over the age of 18.
