Vaccination for children aged 5-11 to start February 14

CEBU, Philippines —  The nationwide rollout for 5 to 11 years old is slated for February 14, while the pilot implementation for this age group will finally begin this Monday in the National Capital Region (NCR) with the arrival of the first batch of the reformulated Pfizer BioNTech vaccines.

This was announced yesterday by Dr. Keiza Lorraine Rosario, co-lead of the National Vaccination Operation Center.

“Hinahanda rin natin ang national rollout. Ito naman po ay mangyayari on February 14,” Rosario said during the Laging Handa public briefing over PTV.

The first batch of Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine doses reformulated for children aged five to 11 arrived Friday night in the Philippines. This was expected to arrive on February 2 but got some delay that pushed the pilot implementation this Monday.

The first batch has a total of 780,000 doses procured by the national government through the World Bank while 1.5 million more doses are expected to arrive within this week for the 5-11 pediatric group.

“Ito na din po yung time natin na magpabakuna ang ating mga 5-11 years-old.Alam din natin na hindi din exempted sa pagkakaroon ng COVID-19 infection.This is the time na mabibigyan na po natin sila ng additional protection against COVID-19,” said Rosario.

In Central Visayas alone, 735 children from 18-below including over a hundred below one year old got admitted and 807 others were infected but not hospitalized because of COVID-19 in January 2022.

Of the infected children, 202 succumbed to COVID-19 as reported earlier by Department of Health (DOH-7) and Visayas Vaccination Operations Center’s spokesperson Dr. Mary Jean Loreche.

Rosario, for her part, has urged parents to get the correct information regarding the COVID-19 vaccines and grab this opportunity to vaccinate their children for their own protection.

“Hinihikayat natin yung mga magulang get the correct informations.Yung mga health workers natin ay handa na magbigay ng tamang impormasyon sa inyo, pakinggan po natin sila para makagawa tayo ng informed consent para sa mga bata na mabakunahan na sila.Grab this opportunity na mabakunahan na sila,” said Rosario.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Pediatric Society (PPS) and the Pediatric Infectious Disease Society of the Philippines (PIDSP) reiterated their position supporting DOH and National Task Force Against COVID-19 (NTF) program of providing COVID-19 vaccination in children 5 to 11 years old.

“It is alarming that recent reports in media and social media platforms highlighting the views of a few doctors have caused undue fear and have stirred considerable vaccine hesitancy among parents and guardians,” read part of PPS-PIDSP's statement shared by the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas(OPAV).

PPS-PIDSP  said COVID-19 disease "directly affects children and may lead to serious consequences with children 5 – 11 years of age are at risk of severe illness from COVID-19."

Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) is most frequent among children 5-11 years old.

Aside from that, PPS also disclosed the indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on children, including worsening of their mental or emotional health, widening of education gaps, decreased physical activity and increased body mass index, decreased routine immunizations, and increase in Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs).

“Thus, broad vaccination implementation would reduce the public health burden of COVID-19 in children 5-11 years of age. Like many regulatory agencies around the world, the Philippine Food and Drug Agency (FDA) has approved the use of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for use in this age group, after a rigorous and independent review process”.

Other expert groups such as the Vaccine Expert Panel, the Health Technology Assessment Council (HTAC), PPS, and PIDSP have reviewed and endorsed COVID-19 vaccination in the same age group after weighing all available evidence on the benefits versus risks of the vaccine.

Vax drive

In a related development, the national government is also gearing up for the third “Bayanihan, Bakunahan” or the country’s massive COVID-19 vaccination drive on February 10 to 11.

Rosario said they are targeting around five million individuals including those who are due for their boosters in the third national vaccination drive (NVD).

Cebu City is also already preparing for the third round of the NVD after failing to go full blast during the second round of the NVD last December due to typhoon Odette.

City Health Department Officer-In-Charge, Dr. Jeffrey Ibones said they are identifying 35 vaccination sites for the third NVD.

"We have a series of meeting to include the DILG, the Department of Education kay ang uban natong mga sites naa man sa eskwelahan unya ang DILG para sad ma-inform ang atoang mga Kabarangayan,.Nag prepare na gyud para sa atong third round sa NVD," said Ibones.

Cebu City is looking at around 58,000 individuals for the upcoming 3rd NVD.

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama also urged the Cebuanos to get vaccinated and boosters now, as this is a protection against COVID-19.

“All that I can tell we will never let our guards lowered. We will never get to be less passionate because all of these people in the vaccination management. I give them my snappy salute, they are sterling, wonderful, amazing,” said Rama. — Decemay Padilla, KQD (FREEMAN)