San Juan City target: COVID-19 vaccine for 5,000 children aged 5-11 in 1 week

Children aged 12 to 17 years old from the City of San Juan receive their first dose of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at the Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan City on November 3, 2021. (INQUIRER PHOTO / NINO JESUS ORBETA)

MANILA, Philippines — The City of San Juan is targeting to vaccinate 5,000 children aged five to 11 in one week, Mayor Francis Zamora shared Monday.

The vaccination drive will kick off on February 4 and only Pfizer’s vaccine was approved to be used for the said age group.

“We’re waiting now for the arrival of supplies from the [Department of Health] but as early as two months ago, we opened our online registration. In fact, we already have 5,000 registrants and on February 4, we will start,” Zamora said on ANC’s Headstart.

“We’re just waiting for the delivery of vaccines specific to this age group, it’s 0.2 [milliliters] of Pfizer and the syringe will be tuned to muscles of children,” he added.

The mayor said that they are planning to use the Filoil Flying V Centre, their main vaccination site, for the immunization of the said age group.

Only 1,000 children per day would be accommodated.

“On Day 1, we are expecting around 1,000 kids aged five to 11 and we’re limiting this to a thousand because this number will be doubled. Remember, either their parents, or their grandparents, or their guardians will be with them,” Zamora pointed out.

“We will limit our main vaccination site to this age group alone. So, hindi namin hahaluan ng ibang (We will not mix them with the other) age group. We want to finish the five- to 11-year olds in probably five to seven days. At 5,000 registrants, we can finish that in one week,” said the mayor.

On top of the 5,000 children who are residents of San Juan City, the local government has received 3,000 registrants who are non-residents.

Meanwhile, vaccination of primary doses and boosters for the adult population will continue.

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