Eight pediatric patients for COVID-19 being treated at Tala Hospital

MANILA, Philippines — There are eight pediatric patients of the 252 COVID-19 patients admitted at Dr. Jose N. Rodriguez Memorial Hospital and Sanitarium (Tala Hospital) in Caloocan City, its medical director Dr. Alfonso Famaran Jr. said Tuesday.

“Sa pediatric po, ang nakatala po sa amin is eight over 252 [COVID-19 patients],” Famaran said in a televised briefing when asked how many pediatric patients for COVID-19 are currently admitted at Tala Hospital.

(On pediatric patients, our data says there are eight of 252 patients.)

“Itong walo po, chineck po namin yung datos, nandito sila sa moderate to severe cases po. Yung iba po, wala naman pong comorbidities pero late na po nagpatingin kaya nagdevelop na po ng complications ng COVID-19 infection,” he added.

(These eight children are moderate to severe cases. Some of them do not have comorbidities but they had themselves checked late that’s why they developed complications of the COVID-19 infection.)

Meanwhile, Famaran said many of the 252 COVID-19 patients admitted were not vaccinated.

“Sa datos namin, sa 252 patients na admitted, 179 or 71 percent ay not vaccinated, 18 patients of 252, partially vaccinated or 7 percent, 55 of 252, 22 percent, fully vaccinated,” Famaran said.

(From our data, of the 252 patients admitted, 179 or 71 percent were not vaccinated, 18 or 7 percent were partially vaccinated and 55 were fully vaccinated.)

Earlier, the Philippine General Hospital said they were also treating six pediatric patients for COVID-19.

This prompted talks of possibly vaccinating children soon, but the Department of Health maintained that the protection of the adult population should be prioritized.

JPV