The Philippines began its vaccination program of children ages 5 to 11 against COVID-19 in Metro Manila on Monday, with pediatric groups rallying behind the government’s rollout for young kids and encouraging their parents to bring their offspring to the nearest health center.
The Department of Health (DOH) said the rollout will later be expanded nationwide as the government aims to inoculate some 15 million children in the said age group.
According to DOH guidelines, children and their parents must pre-register with local governments, and both must bring valid IDs with pictures.
Only children with preexisting medical conditions need to present a medical certificate from their doctors, while others will be assessed before vaccination, the DOH said.
The government will administer 10 micrograms of Pfizer’s reformulated vaccine for children ages 5 to 11, which has an orange cap to differentiate it from the ones used on adults.
“Our vaccine for 5 to 11 years old is safe. They need it because they haven’t been vaccinated yet. And if cases continue to rise especially in other areas, they need to be protected,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in Filipino.
After vaccination, children will be monitored for 30 minutes if they have previously experienced allergic reactions, and 15 minutes if they have not experienced any, the DOH said.
The most common minor adverse reactions that children experience are dizziness, injection site pain, pyrexia, headache, and increased blood pressure, according to Dr. Mary Ann Bunyi, president of the Pediatric Infectious Disease Society of the Philippines.
The country has recorded two cases of myocarditis and one case of pericarditis after inoculation, from which the children have recovered, Bunyi said.
“These patients have all recovered from these conditions. The causality of these medical illnesses is still being investigated and still needs to be established,” she earlier said.
The Philippines has so far fully vaccinated 6.28 million children aged 12 to 17 as of Jan. 23, according to DOH data that Bunyi presented.
As of 9 a.m. Monday, more than 40 children out of a registered 300 have been vaccinated at the National Children’s Hospital.
Malacañang earlier announced the vaccination of the 5 to 11 age group will be rolled out in the following sites in Metro Manila: Philippine Heart Center, Philippine Children’s Medical Center, the National Children’s Hospital, Manila Zoo, SM North EDSA (Skydome) and the FilOil Gym in San Juan City.
The national rollout will be on Feb. 14, the National Vaccination Operations Center said Saturday.
NVOC co-lead Dr. Kezia Lorraine Rosario said about 500,000 children had been registered for the vaccination rollout, mostly from urban areas.
On Friday night, around 780,000 doses of Pfizer anti-COVID vaccine for minors aged 5 to 11 arrived in the Philippines.
Saying that COVID-19 “directly affects children and may lead to serious consequences,” pediatric groups rallied behind the government’s vaccination rollout for children aged 5-11 against the disease.
The Philippine Pediatric Society (PPS) and the Pediatric Infectious Disease Society of the Philippines (PIDSP) expressed their full support for this initiative of the government.
They also reiterated the safety of the vaccines, as many regulatory agencies around the world, including the Philippine Food and Drug Agency (FDA), has approved the use of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for this age group, “after a rigorous and independent review process.”
The groups said the vaccine was found to be safe and efficacious in the vaccine trials among children, preventing 90.9 percent of symptomatic COVID-19, with no serious adverse events nor deaths found related to the vaccination.
The City of Taguig also began administering its COVID-19 vaccination rollout for children aged 5 to 11.
On Monday, the city government aimed to inoculate at least 1,000 children in its vaccination hubs in SMX Convention Center in Bonifacio Global City and the Lakeshore Vaccination Hub in Bicutan.
Taguig put up a “superhero carnival theme” for children to enjoy the vaccination centers.