Inoculation for kids aged 5 to 11 to start next month in Metro Manila

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The Philippine government is eyeing to conduct a “vaccination days” rollout specifically for children aged 5 to 11 on Feb. 4 and Feb. 5 in Metro Manila.

National Task Force Against COVID-19 (NTF) chief implementer Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said the designated vaccination sites would include 24 hospital and nonhospital based facilities.

According to Galvez, it was the Philippine Medical Association’s suggestion to put the vaccination days on weekends so the parents were not at work and could accompany their children at the vaccination sites.

The vaccine czar said the initial rollout for the children’s vaccination would be conducted in the National Capital Region (NCR).

But Galvez noted that the NTF was open to accepting requests from other regions to simultaneously conduct their own pilot implementation of the vaccine rollout.

Central Luzon and Calabarzon were among the regions that appealed to the NTF to be allowed to conduct their vaccination for children aged 5 to 11 years old at the same time with the NCR.

Galvez assured the public that the vaccines to be used for children are all safe and effective.

The government secured 15 million of reformulated Pfizer vaccine to be used specifically for children, which were of lower dosage and concentration than those given to adults. It aims to inoculate more than 15.5 million minors aged 5 to 11 against COVID-19.

Meanwhile, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) fell short of its daily target of 500 during its inoculation drive at Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange, with only less than 300 recorded in the first four days.

The DOTr data showed that on Jan. 24, there were 290 vaccine recipients; 270 on Jan. 25; 268 on Jan. 26; and 232 Jan. 27, or a total of 1,060.