Children as young as 5 will now be vaccinated against COVID-19 in Brazil

Brazilian children between the ages of five and 11 will be eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccination beginning in January, without having to first receive a medical prescription, officials from the health ministry announced on Wednesday.

While pediatric vaccination will not be mandatory, state governments will ultimately have the final word on public health decisions and could require that children be vaccinated to be able to attend school, Reuters reported.

"Children have unfortunately died of COVID-19, not many, but every child's life is important," Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga said in a news conference.

The government of President Jair Bolsonaro, however, issued a decree last month prohibiting public schools from imposing vaccine mandates on their students.

"The requirement of proof of immunization as an indirect means of introducing compulsory vaccination may only be established by federal law," wrote Minister of Education Milton Ribeiro in the government’s Official Gazette.

The text further explains that because compulsory immunization has not yet been made law, "it is not possible for federal educational institutions to establish the requirement of vaccination against COVID-19 as a condition for the return to face-to-face educational activities.”

So far, Brazil has ordered 20 million doses of a pediatric vaccine developed by Pfizer and vaccination will begin later this month.

The first 3.5 million pediatric Pfizer doses are scheduled to arrive in Brazil before the end of January.