MANILA, Philippines — Fifty-eight percent of the target population for the inoculation of children aged 12 to 17 in the country have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, the Pediatric Infectious Disease Society of the Philippines (PIDSP) said Wednesday.
Data presented by PIDSP president Dr. Mary Ann Bunyi in an online media forum showed that 6.2 million adolescents have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 out of the 10.7 million target population.
She said only 2,640 adverse events following immunization, of which 94 percent are mild or non-serious, have been reported.
According to Bunyi, the most commonly reported reactions were dizziness, pain in the injection site, pyrexia, headache, and increased blood pressure.
Bunyi said that 396,730 COVID-19 cases have so far been reported among those aged 19 years old and below. She noted that COVID-19 cases among children and adolescents remain to account for around 10 percent of all cases in the country.
“Most cases have been mild but some have turned into severe and critical manifestations, including multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children,” she added.
The Department of Health has so far recorded 3.4 million total confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country across all age groups.
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