The Department of Health has thumbed down proposals to start the vaccination of minors, citing insufficient supply and the need for further studies on the safety of vaccines on children aged 12 to 17 years old.
“Our recommendation on the issue of pediatric vaccination is to delay this first,” Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said in his report to President Rodrigo Duterte late Monday evening.
He said if at all, vaccination can only be recommended for children with comorbidities.
Duque said “safety, equity, and protection” have been taken into consideration in making the recommendation as only the Pfizer vaccine has been given emergency use authorization for use on minors.
The Philippines would have to vaccinate 12 million to 14 million additional people if the government allowed the inoculation against COVID-19 for children aged 17, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Monday.
“Rest assured that like the vaccine approved for adults, we will not be giving these jabs to children unless it is safe and effective,” FDA Director General Eric Domingo said.
Domingo also explained that with the Delta coronavirus variant, even teenage children are readily infected and afflicted with severe COVID-19.
"The children are now becoming more vulnerable also," he said, adding the country's more vulnerable population — the elderly and adults with comorbidities — should be completely jabbed first.
Sen. Sonny Angara, chairman of the Senate Finance committee, said there might be a need to include funding for the vaccination of minors through a supplemental budget.
"I think ang original idea in the budget is for adults only. But the children should be included, especially given the new variants like Delta," he said.
"We might have a supplemental budget, or this can be prioritized in the 2022 budget," Angara said, adding the Senate would be studying it.
The FDA is also reviewing the application of Sinovac to amend its emergency use authorization so that its COVID-19 vaccine can be used on children aged 3 to 17. It is still under evaluation by the country’s Vaccine Expert Panel (VEP).