Bring in the kids: Estonian city targets youths for jabs

Estonia’s second-largest city of Tartu is making rapid progress in vaccinating children aged 12 to 17 ahead of the school year that begins Sept. 1

TARTU, Estonia -- With her father in tow, 13-year-old Gloria Raudjarv marched through a vaccination center inside a sports hall in Estonia’s second-largest city and up to a nurse for her first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. So far, around half of Tartu's teenagers from 12 to 17 have already received their first vaccine shot, and local health officials are working to reach 70% by the time school resumes on Sept. 1. “I really want to go to school already, we have been distance learning for so long,” she said, gripping her vaccination certificate. Two months after the European Medicines Agency recommended that the coronavirus vaccine made by Pfizer-BioNTech be expanded to children 12 to 15, large disparities in the access to vaccination are being seen for youths across Europe. Last week, the EU drug regulator also cleared the vaccine made by Moderna for the same age group.