Vaccination of children between 5 and 11 years old against COVID-19 will begin this month in Brazil, the country’s Ministry of Health said in a statement, adding that immunization could take place without a medical prescription.

The decision was announced this Wednesday afternoon at a press conference led by the Minister of Health, Marcelo Queiroga, and other authorities.

The ministry withdrew from demanding a medical prescription, in a retreat from what government officials had been indicating in recent days. President Jair Bolsonaro has publicly expressed his opposition to the vaccination of children.

In a statement, the Ministry said that Brazil will receive 3.7 million doses of pediatric vaccine from Pfizer by the end of January and that it has already ordered a total of 20 million doses for this target group.

Translated by LABS