THE Department of Health yesterday said it is looking to begin on October 15 the immunization of 12 to 17-year-olds in the National Capital Region against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje said the National Vaccine Operations Center is finalizing the guidelines for the pediatric vaccination.
“Our target is to begin the vaccination on October 15. We will start in the NCR since it already has a good vaccination coverage, especially of its A2 priority group. More than 50 percent of the senior citizens are fully vaccinated,” she said in a briefing.
The coverage of pediatric vaccination will expand to other regions after a two-week pilot test in Metro Manila, she said.
“We are discussing the possibility of doing it in hospitals first to see the reaction before expanding to local governments,” said Cabotaje.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the pediatric vaccination will also initially cover 12 to 17-year-olds with comorbidities as they will be be part of the Priority Group A3 (persons with comorbidities) of the national immunization program.
Group A1 covers healthcare workers, Group A2 senior citizens, A4 economic frontliners, and A5 indigent population.
Vergeire said coverage will be expanded to other minors only once there is higher vaccine coverage of senior citizens, and vaccine supply becomes sufficient to include children.
“Considering that the risks of contracting severe COVID-19 infection or dying from COVID-19 is significantly lower for healthy children, it follows that the benefits from vaccination relative to the risk of a healthy child is also lower compared to a sick child,” said Vergeire.
Among requirements for the vaccination of qualified children, she said, are informed consent by the parent/guardian and informed assent from the child prior to vaccination, as well as medical clearance by a physician for children with comorbidities.
Vergeire also said vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna must be the only ones used for 12 to 17-years-olds as these are the brands issued emergency use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration.
As for the inoculation of the general population, Vergeire said the start will be largely dependent on the arrival of the additional doses of COVID-19 vaccines.
In particular, Vergeire said they will closely monitor the expected arrival of the 114 million doses between October and December.
“We are going to expect about 114 million doses of vaccines. With this 114 million doses, we can expect that we can already open up to other sectors,” she said.
But guidelines on how they will open up the inoculation to those outside priority groups A1 to A5 still have to be discussed, she said.
As of September 28, about 20.8 million individuals have been fully vaccinated.
Last Tuesday, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said President Duterte has approved the recommendation of vaccine czar Carlito Galvez for the start of the vaccination of the general population, including children, by next month.
Mayor Rocky Ilagan of Puerto Galera, Oriental Mindoro said the town has not received any COVID-19 vaccine from national government for over two weeks.
Ilagan said he has been calling the DOH regional director, Mario Baquilod, almost every for the past few days vaccines.
He said he was told that his town’s vaccine allocation has been sent to the province.
Ilagan, in a radio interview, said his constituents’ source of livelihood is tourism but tourism cannot fully take off because many of his constituents are not yet vaccinated.
He said a daily average of 20 tourists visit the town during weekdays and 300 on weekends. But he said tourist arrivals are not yet enough.
Ilagan said the town is targeting to vaccinate 20,000, out of nearly 42,000 population, but only 4,000 have been fully vaccinated and 1,000 others have received the first dose of two-dose vaccines.
Ilagan said they recently bought an ultra-low temperature freezer, hoping they would be given priority in the allocation of vaccines
Ilagan also said he received reports that some officials are conducting house-to-house visits in the town. He said the residents are reportedly brought to Calapan City, the capital of Oriental Mindoro, where they will be vaccinated.
Ilagan said his constituents are charged P100 each for gasoline expenses.
He said the practice only exposes his constituents to the virus. He said many of his constituents are giving in because they really want to be vaccinated.
Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said about 85 percent of the employees of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) and its attached agencies are now fully vaccinated.
The PCOO started the vaccination of its personnel in June and has now fully inoculated 3,364 of its 3,961 or 84.93 percent of its employees and its attached agencies nationwide.
The data was as of September 27.
At least 343 of the PCOO personnel have yet to receive their second dose, while 69 persons voluntarily opted not to be inoculated.
Andanar said aside from the PCOO personnel, they have also extended the vaccination program to the dependents of their employees as well as to some members of the Malacañang Press Corps.
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said President Duterte can invoke police powers to compel everyone to get vaccinated against COVID-19 but a law mandating vaccination is needed.
Duterte earlier said the state can use its police power to compel everyone to get inoculated, especially those who refuse to do so based on their personal or religious beliefs since it is a matter of public safety.
“The President correctly invoked police power as basis to compel anti-COVID vaccination for everyone except those who have valid reasons. The power rests upon the inherent right of the State and the people to self-protection. But this power, especially if accompanied by penalties or sanctions to enforce obedience or compliance, must be exercised through the legislature,” Guevarra said when sought for comment.
“In other words, there must be a law making anti-COVID vaccination mandatory. In the absence of such a law, the executive branch may only use moral suasion, including the grant of incentives, to encourage widespread voluntary vaccination,” he added.
Meanwhile, Vergeire said the Department of Health agrees with former health secretary and now Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin that there are more breakthrough COVID-19 infections than are officially are reported.
A vaccine breakthrough infection happens when a fully-vaccinated person is infected with COVID-19 more than 14 days after completion of the recommended doses of the vaccine.
Earlier this month, the Food and Drug Administration said there have been 242 breakthrough infections recorded nationwide.
This places the rate of breakthrough infection at 0.0017 percent out of the 13.87 million fully-vaccinated individuals.
Vergeire asked local government units, vaccination centers, hospitals, and communities to report cases of breakthrough infections “so that we can have a complete data regarding these breakthrough infections.” — With Victor Reyes, Jocelyn Montemayor and Ashzel Hachero
