FILE PHOTO: A city government employee vaccinates a woman during a “Ronda Bakuna” in Sapalibutad village, Angeles City on October 28, 2021. (Photo from the Angeles City government)
ANGELES CITY, Pampanga — The city government here has already allowed minors 12 to 17 years old who got the initial dose of vaccines against COVID-19 to go to malls and other establishments, Mayor Carmelo Lazatin Jr said Monday, November 8.
According to the executive order that Lazatin issued, all mall guards must ask minors to present their vaccination cards at the gates.
Lazatin also ordered unvaccinated minors with the same age bracket to stay at home.
But the mayor’s order triggered adverse reactions online, especially from several parents who found it “discriminatory” in nature.
Some parents said they were still apprehensive about the possible side effects of COVID-19 vaccines on their children, saying comprehensive medical studies on the long-term effects of vaccines on younger persons have yet to be made.
“Are you really pushing vaccination for minors? Just to let them enter malls, you want to make vaccination mandatory for children? That is not the policy of the Department of Health and the Inter-Agency Task Force,” one parent said.
Another asked: “Is it wise to let loose partially vaccinated children and teens?”
International health agencies like the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have stated in the past that COVID-19 vaccines would provide full protection only two weeks after taking the second or final dose.
Health agencies like the Department of Health also acknowledged the fact that even fully vaccinated individuals may still contract COVID-19 weeks or months after taking their final dose.
This is the reason why in some countries like the United States booster vaccines are already being administered to fully vaccinated persons.
A foreigner living in this city said “something doesn’t sit well with the city government’s policy.”