PH to order 10M more COVID-19 vaccines for kids aged 5 to 11 years

PEDIATRIC VACCINATION Children ages 12 to 17 years old from the city of San Juan received their first dose of Pfizer vaccines at the Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan City on November 3, 2021.
INQUIRER PHOTO / NINO JESUS ORBETA

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is ordering 10 million more doses of COVID-19 vaccines for the vaccination of children 5 to 11 years old, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said Wednesday.

The Philippines initially ordered 15 million Pfizer vaccine doses for the children’s vaccination, which Galvez said is set to arrive on Jan. 31. With this, the government is also looking to add more to complete the two primaries.

“Ang ginagawa natin nag-order na ng 15 million at magdadagdag tayo ng 10 million,” he said in an interview over ABS CBN’s TeleRadyo.

(What we’re doing is we ordered 15 million doses and we will add 10 million more.)

Galvez also said they are in talks with another manufacturer to expand their emergency use authorization for three to 11 years old so that we would have two vaccines for the children, including 0 to 4 years old.

Galvez said the government is aiming a “mini roll-out” of the inoculation of children aged 5 to 11 on Feb. 1 to Feb. 7.

The government also plans to finish the booster vaccination of 12 to 17 year olds during the first quarter of the year.

EDV