MANILA – Pediatric immunization could begin in the fourth quarter of this year, according to the government’s vaccine cluster.
Assistant Secretary Wilben Mayor, head of the National Task Force Against Covid-19 (NTF) sub-task force on current operations, said the NTF has already recommended to the National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (NITAG) that the vaccination program be expanded to children in the final quarter of 2021.
“On the projection, the government, through the vaccine cluster, has already been eyeing for the inoculation of our children especially from ages 12 to 17,” Mayor, who represented vaccine czar and NTF head Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., said during a Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture hearing on Wednesday.
Mayor stated that the vaccination of the recommended age group will be greatly contingent on the government’s vaccine expert panel’s decision, as well as the availability of Covid-19 vaccines in the global market.
“Nevertheless, there is already an action on the part of the vaccine cluster to ensure a steady supply of vaccines for September this year,” he said.
“They have already signed the purchase order for 10 million doses of Sinovac [and] the increase of delivery of Pfizer — more or less five million doses, and Moderna, three million doses,” he added.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has previously suggested that minors be vaccinated in locations where there is a high risk of community transmission, but that vaccinating children would be dependent on vaccine availability.
In the Covid-19 vaccine program, WHO stressed the significance of prioritizing vulnerable groups like senior citizens and people with comorbidities.
Apart from pediatric immunization, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, the chair of the committee, also evaluated during the hearing the readiness of basic education institutions to open safe schools and conduct face-to-face classes for the Academic Year 2021-2022.
“Admittedly, the school year 2020-2021 was a bit of a challenge because we did not have enough experience and training to go under a full distance learning scheme,” Gatchalian said.
The senator has been advocating for student immunization, which would allow traditional classes to continue in locations where the risk of Covid-19 infection is minimal.
“The most important part was we learned from those mistakes,” he added.
