A total of 180 children who contracted COVID-19 virus have been admitted to specialized children's hospitals until yesterday. It was also reported that overall 25 deaths have occurred and two children are in critical care, the Government Medical Officers' Association (GMOA) said.

According to unofficial data, the children admitted, those who died and children in critical condition at the PICUs are as follows.

105 children were reportedly admitted to the Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children (LRH) with 18 deaths and no patients in critical condition. 35 children were admitted to the Sirimavo Bandaranayake Specialized Children's Hospital. Two deaths were reported and one child is in critical care. Seven children at the Karapitiya Teaching Hospital. One reported dead and no children were in critical care. Three children were admitted to the Anuradhapura Teaching hospital with one child died and another was in critical care. 30 children admitted to the Ragama Teaching Hospital with 25 have been reported dead and two are fighting for their lives under critical care.

Therefore, the GMOA requested to give the Pfizer vaccine to the age group of 12 to 18 years without wasting it on the 20-30 age group being the best solution at the moment.

Pfizer is the only vaccine approved by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for school children over 12 years of age, the GMOA added. (Chaturanga Samarawickrama)