'Mini' COVID-19 vaccine rollout for kids aged 5 to 11 set in February

MANILA, Philippines — Children aged five to 11 can get immunized against COVID-19 during a “mini rollout” that will be conducted in the first week of February, the head of the country’s vaccination strategy said.

Vaccinating kids is key to reopening schools shuttered by the pandemic and easing restrictions on minors, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez said in a release.

The initial rollout of vaccines for children aged five to 11 is scheduled from February 1 to 7.

The reformulated Pfizer-BioNTech doses that will be used for the pediatric vaccination are expected to arrive in the country by end-January.

According to Galvez, the government is targeting to finish the primary vaccination of minors aged 12 to 17 within the first quarter, and start the administration of booster shots by the second quarter.

Since March last year, over 54.4 million of the country’s 109 million population have completed vaccination against COVID-19, while 58.5 million people have received partial protection.

The government has so far administered 4.4 million booster doses.