By Joyce Ann L. Rocamora | Philippine News Agency
MANILA – Some 263,931 children aged 5 to 11 years old have been vaccinated against the coronavirus since the start of pediatric rollout this month, the Department of Health (DOH) said Thursday (Feb. 17).
Based on the initial DOH assessment, the inoculation was successful and only eight reported non-serious adverse events, which include rashes, pain in the injection site, fever, vomiting and itchy throat.
Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje said almost every province in the country has started vaccinating children 5 to 11 years old, but the phase of inoculation would still depend on the supply of Pfizer-BioNTech doses, the only vaccine given an emergency use authorization (EUA) for the age group.
“Kung sakaling late ang side effect, nakaalis na sila ng bahay, binibigyan sila ng number kung ano iyong mga iku-contact na mga healthcare worker or iyong mga facility para i-report ang kanilang mga nararamdaman at matugunan ang mga ito (If in case their side effect is delayed, we give them a number so that they can contact a health worker immediately),” she said in a Laging Handa briefing.
She assured that more doses will arrive in the following weeks. This February alone, the country expects to receive a total of five million doses of jabs and another five million by next month.
Cabotaje said Filipino experts are also studying the possible vaccination of children aged four and below.
As of this posting, no local EUA has been issued for any other vaccine to be used for this age group.
“Hintayin natin ang final recommendation ng experts at tapos kung may mag-file na po ng pagpapa-approve ng zero to five na manufacturer o taga-gawa ng ating bakuna (Let us just wait for the experts’ recommendation and when manufacturers apply for a vaccine that can be used on 0 to 5 years old),” she said.
The country has so far inoculated over 61 million people since the national vaccination campaign was launched in March 2021.
Cabotaje said the vaccination rate in some areas such as the Bangsamoro and Region 12 remains slow and low, but vaccine hesitancy is gradually decreasing. (PNA)
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