The national government has procured 15 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to inoculate children aged 5 to 11 years old against COVID-19, National Task Force adviser Dr. Ted Herbosa said.
“We procured 15 million doses of Pfizer for children which will arrive in January and February,” said Herbosa at the sidelines of the arrival Tuesday of 367,380 Pfizer vaccine doses in the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
“So hopefully, we will be able to start vaccinating the 5 to 11 years old,” Herbosa said.
Last December 23, the Philippine Food and Drug Administration approved the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for the age group.
The formulation for children ages five to 11 comes in a vial with an orange cap and a label with an orange border.
They will receive two doses of 10 micrograms each, compared to 30 micrograms per dose for adults.
The FDA previously said the government is eyeing to start vaccinating children in this age group early next year.
The Philippines’ COVID-19 vaccination program started in March, but the vaccination of minors only started in November, beginning with children aged 12 to 17.
Government data indicates that more than 47 million Filipinos have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 while more than 1.4 million Filipinos have received booster doses.
Meanwhile, National Task Force Against COVID-19 chief implementer Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said the Philippines expects to receive a total of 210 million COVID-19 vaccines by year-end.
Galvez made the statement following the arrival at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport of 2,005,300 doses of Astrazeneca vaccines Tuesday.
“We would like to congratulate the Department of Finance negotiating team and also our partners – the Asian Development Bank, World Bank, and other partners who donated the vaccines,” Galvez said.
He also thanked the COVAX facility for donating 62.8 million doses and bilateral donors for sending more than 11 million doses.
“We thank all the partners, the World Health Organization, the GAVI, the US, China, Netherlands, European Union, France, Germany, Austria, and other partners and allies,” Galvez said.
Despite the onslaught of Typhoon Odette, the vaccine czar said 900,000 individuals were inoculated last Monday.
“We are very thankful to the LGUs, as well as healthcare workers that despite the challenges that we have, we were able to garner our energy and proceed with our higher mission of inoculating our countrymen and Filipino people,” Galvez said.