Argentina begins COVID-19 vaccination in adolescents aged 12 to 17

BUENOS AIRES - Argentina began to vaccinate adolescents in risk groups between the ages of 12 to 17 against COVID-19 on Tuesday.

The population includes those with diabetes, grade 2 obesity, chronic cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, chronic respiratory disease and liver disease.

"We are very excited to be able to take this step, it is a population we are very concerned about," Victoria Anadon, Undersecretary for Technical, Administrative and Legal Affairs of the Health Ministry of Buenos Aires province, told Xinhua.

All vaccination centers in the province of Buenos Aires, the most populated in the country, began the immunization of this group on Tuesday with the Moderna vaccine, Anadon said.

The official commented that the immunization campaign will advance toward "a younger population as other vaccines are authorized," in order to "also vaccinate children and young people without pre-existing diseases at some point."

The South American country has applied more than 32.69 million vaccines doses so far.

As of Monday, it had accumulated 4,947,030 COVID-19 cases and 106,045 deaths from the disease.