THE vaccination of children and adolescents will be piloted in five or six hospitals in Metro Manila and involve those who have comorbidities or are dependents of healthcare workers, National Task Force (NTF) against COVID-19 chief and vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said yesterday.
The hospitals are the Philippine Heart Center, National Children’s Hospital, National Kidney Institute, University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital, and another one to two hospitals that oversee pediatric comorbidities.
Galvez said the target is to start the pilot vaccination of children sometime in October along with the opening of the vaccination program for the rest of the population or those that are not covered by the A1 to 5 priority groups in the national vaccination program.
Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje on Wednesday said the Department of Health it is looking to start the immunization of 12 to 17-year-olds in Metro Manila on October 15, and the coverage will be expanded to other regions after a two-week pilot test in Metro Manila.
Galvez said the program may be opened initially to 14 to 17-year-olds, 15 to 17-year-olds, or 12 to 15-year-olds before it is expanded to include younger children. The vaccination program is currently limited to those 18 years old older.
Galvez said the implementation is subject to the approval of the Inter-agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases and eventually President Duterte.
Galvez assured parents that vaccines that will be used on minors are safe and effective.
The Food and Drug Administration has granted expanded emergency use authority for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for the use of children.
The President approved the vaccination of the general population, including children, this month amid the expected arrival of a huge volume of vaccine doses.
Galvez said some 71 million doses have already been delivered to the country since February, including the 1.2 million doses of Moderna COVID-that arrived yesterday. The country is expecting the total delivered vaccines to the Philippines to reach 100 million by next month.
As of September 29, the government has fully vaccinated about 21.1 million individuals and administered 45.1 million doses of vaccines nationwide.
The government goal is to vaccinate 50 million to 70 million vaccine-eligible persons by the end of the year.
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said the public can be compelled to get vaccinated against COVID-19 even without a national law passed by Congress, through local ordinances, but its legality can still be challenged in court.
Guevarra made the statement when asked if legislation passed by local government units can be used as basis for mandatory COVID-19 vaccination. President Duterte recently said the state can invoke its police powers to compel everyone to get inoculated against the virus. — With Ashzel Hachero
