Limited vaccine supply slowing pedia jab drive

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HEALTH Secretary Francisco Duque yesterday said vaccination of children aged 5 to 11 years old have been slowed down by the limited supply of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine doses for the age group.

Speaking at the ceremonial vaccination of DOH Kids and Grandkids in Manila, Duque III said it is unfortunate that the government cannot vaccinate as many children as possible due to the limited vaccine supply in the country.

“The demand is so great. However, the limiting factor is the supplies that are coming in trickles. It is not enough. We want more supplies. But we cannot control it because there is only one source of this: Pfizer,” said Duque.

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“We couldn’t hit the pace at which we would like to vaccinate as aggressively as we ought to to ensure the children will be aptly protected,” he added.

The health chief stressed there is a need to vaccinate as many children as possible to end their nearly two-year “imprisonment” inside their homes and so they can “interact with their relatives, playmates, schoolmates.”

“These are all key to their cognitive skills and social skills development,” he stressed.

Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje agreed with Duque and said the vaccination rollout relies mainly on available supplies.

“The pacing of our rollout is supply-dependent, and we have a limited supply of vaccines,” said Cabotaje.

Cabotaje, who is the head of the National Vaccination Operations Center’s (NVOC), said they are seeing an average of 55,000 pediatric vaccinees per day.

As of February 16, there are already a total of 263,932 children aged 5 to 11 years old vaccinated nationwide.

Of the vaccinated children, there are eight non-serious adverse events following immunization reported, including rashes, itchy throat, pain in injection site, fever, and vomiting.

Cabotaje said they are expecting the arrival of five million doses of COVID-19 vaccines for the whole February, and another 10 million doses by the second quarter of the year.

Deputy Presidential Peace Adviser Undersecretary Isidro Purisima led a government delegation in receiving 780,000 doses of reformulated Pfizer pediatric vaccines on Wednesday night. Some 3.94 million doses more of pediatric vaccine from Pfizer are still expected to be delivered this February.

The new arrival brings the total of available vaccines against for the younger population to more than 2.23 million doses.

The government had initially bought 15 million doses of pediatric vaccines from Pfizer and bought an additional 15 million for the booster shots.

“Vaccination is important and we are again urging parents to have their children vaccinated especially those aged 5 to 11 years old,” Purisima said adding that the vaccination is crucial in opening the economy and the safe resumption of face-to-face classes.

Galvez in his visit to Basilan yesterday urged members of the Muslim community to get the COVID-19 jab which he assured is proven to be safe and effective.

Galvez was in Basilan on Wednesday, and Zamboanga last Tuesday, as part of the government’s efforts to ramp up the vaccination output in Mindanao provinces, especially the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

The National Vaccination Operations Center (NVOC) is not optimistic that the country will be able to meet the five million target set for the 3rd National Vaccination Days (NVD) as the number of those vaccinated are only in the halfway mark.

In a televised public briefing, NVOC head Myrna Cabotaje said the past seven days have seen only 2.6 million vaccinees so far. — With Jocelyn Montemayor

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