Vax drive starts for minors outside Metro Manila

NOT SO SPOOKY Medical front-liners take the edge off the seriousness of their COVID-19 vaccination task by donning Halloween costumes while attending to people queueing to get their shots at the Dagupan City People’s Astrodome on Friday. —WILLIE LOMIBAO

BAGUIO CITY — A 15-year-old boy became the first teenager here to receive a jab of the Pfizer vaccine against COVID-19 on Friday as the city began its inoculation rollout for minors, one of the first local governments to do so outside Metro Manila.

Over 100 teens here were accommodated during the first day of the mass vaccination for minors held at Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC). They were among 4,000 eligible minors who have already registered for the city’s COVID-19 pediatric program and most of them have been managing other medical conditions like asthma.

At a press briefing after the pilot vaccination, BGHMC pediatrician and allergologist Dr. Therese Tolentino said this age group of vaccine recipients had turned into advocates for inoculation against the viral disease, noting that they have been “policing” their parents and family members about proper health protocols at home.

She said the shift in behavior for an age group commonly associated with “rebelliousness” appears to be due to the consumption of news and information about the global impact of COVID-19.

The city has observed a slowdown of COVID-19 spread this week after reeling from a wave of transmissions that pushed up its active cases to over 4,000 in September and early October.

As of Thursday, the number of Baguio’s active cases has gone down to 661. The city has tallied 29,098 infections since the global pandemic broke out in 2020, with 653 deaths, according to the local information office.

Mayor Benjamin Magalong said the government intended to inoculate 90 to 95 percent of the city’s 281,000 eligible population by year-end. As of Wednesday, at least 187,842 Baguio residents have been fully vaccinated.

Not a trick

In Dagupan, a highly urbanized city in the Ilocos Region, the vaccination rollout on Friday was only for adults, or those 18 years old and above, but medical front-liners manning vaccination stations at the city’s Astrodome made the rollout spooky, which would have delighted children, by donning halloween costumes.

The provinces of Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur and Cagayan also began vaccinating children age 12 to 17 years old on Friday.

Dr. Gretchen Ranada, COVID-19 vaccination team leader at Mariano Marcos Memorial Hospital and Medical Center in Batac City, Ilocos Norte, said the hospital had received at least 2,340 single-dose Pfizer-made vaccines for the inoculation of minors. —REPORTS FROM VINCENT CABREZA, JOHN MICHAEL MUGAS AND VILLAMOR VISAYA JR.