By Alec Go
The Philippine government has approved last week the vaccination of 12 to 17 years-old minors starting in mid-October, in line with the move to include the general population in the national COVID-19 inoculation program.
The Department of Health (DOH) said in the Oct. 4 Palace briefing that the pediatric vaccination will be conducted “by phases,” starting with 15 to 17 years-old individuals, to be followed by 12 to 14 years-old children.
“Kinakailangan po talaga ng parental consent. Hindi pupuwedeng sila-sila na lamang ang pagdedesisyon,” DOH Sec. Francisco Duque III said.
“Ito po ay ilulunsad sa ating mga ospital muna para nang sa ganoon kung magkaroon man ng mga adverse event following immunization ay at least nasa loob na po ng ospital at mabilis na matugunan,” he added.
The Philippine Food and Drug (FDA) has so far approved the two-dose vaccines of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna for minors. China’s Sinovac has also sought approval from the FDA but has not yet been given the green light.
Pfizer’s amended emergency use authorization (EUA) as of May 28 has allowed the product for 12 years-old and older, while Moderna was given the approval early in September.
National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19 chief implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. said the minors “pilot vaccination” will be conducted in the following sites:
Philippine Children’s Medical Center
National Children’s Hospital
Philippine Heart Center
Pasig City Children’s Hospital
Fe del Mundo Medical Center
Philippine General Hospital
Children’s shot safety
The United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) said Pfizer has tested its vaccine on 12 to 15 year-old individuals, where it was determined that the potential benefits “outweigh the known and potential risks.”
The FDA said the common side effects observed in the trial were pain at the injection site, tiredness, headache, chills, muscle pain, fever, and joint pain.
During the Sept. 3 Laging Handa briefing, Philippine FDA Director-General Eric Domingo said vaccinators should only watch out for “very rare cases of myocarditis” for mRNA vaccines like Pfizer and Moderna.
“Very few, very rarely, one in for every million siguro— a few for every million na binakunahan at mas nakikita sa mga younger males. Ito po ang kailangan lamang bantayan,” he said.
“But definitely with the Delta variant affecting a lot of children, nakita po ng ating mga experts that the benefit of using the vaccine outweighs the risk,” he added. -rir
