The Philippines is planning to expand next year its pediatric COVID-19 vaccination to include children below 12 years old, a health official said Wednesday.
Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje gave the statement after the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved the use of Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11.
“We have considered that [US approval] for our plans of next year’s vaccination of below 12 years old. A recommendation from the Health Technology Assessment Council is needed and the vaccine should be approved for those 11 years old and below,” Cabotaje said.
“It is being discussed and our vaccination program planners have scheduled it for next year,” she added.
On Wednesday, the government began the vaccination of all children aged 12 to 17, after initially rolling out the program to kids of the same age with comorbidities.
It aims to vaccinate 80 percent or nearly 10 million out of 12 million children before yearend, Cabotaje said.
Some 40,419 or 3.18 percent of children with health risks have received an initial dose as of 6 p.m. Tuesday, she said.
Government also supports the proposal for “family vaccination,” but reiterated that priority lanes should be set aside for priority sectors such as the elderly and immunocompromised, Cabotaje said.
“We are hoping with the opening up of our pediatric age group, our grandparents will also be encouraged,” she said.
“If the whole family is vaccinated, they are protected,” she added.
The country aims to vaccinate at least 77 million or 70 percent of the population, of which 64 percent are adults and 6 percent are children, to achieve herd immunity by yearend, Cabotaje said.
Meanwhile, the United States will now start giving children aged 5-11 the Pfizer-BioNtech COVID vaccine, US health authorities said Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila) in a move hailed by President Joe Biden as a “turning point” in the fight against the pandemic.
Days after gaining authorization from the Food and Drug Administration, the vaccine was endorsed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, clearing the way for the vaccination of up to 28 million children.
The government was well ahead of the decision, procuring enough doses for the children in the 5-11 age group and beginning to ship them across the country.
“Today, we have reached a turning point in our battle against COVID-19,” Biden said in a statement released by the White House.
Vaccinating younger children will “allow parents to end months of anxious worrying about their kids, and reduce the extent to which children spread the virus to others. It is a major step forward for our nation in our fight to defeat the virus,” Biden said.
The government has already secured enough vaccines for every child in America, he said, adding that over the weekend officials began the process of packing and shipping millions of doses. With AFP
