Household members of senior citizens could be included in the priority sector for the country's inoculation program against COVID-19 as authorities scramble to find more supplies of vaccines.
Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje said Sunday the Department of Health is crafting guidelines for this policy amid the increasing number of fully vaccinated seniors all over the country, which has reached 43%.
In other developments, Anakalusugan party-list Rep. Michael Defensor called for the early COVID-19 vaccination of high-risk Filipino children aged 12 to 15 years old as soon as the country is assured of a larger monthly supply of vaccines.
The Philippines on Sunday received 469,200 doses of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine, with 319,200 of the doses procured by the national government and 150,000 doses bought by the private sector.
Former government medical adviser Dr. Anthony Leachon on Sunday slammed some doctors and professionals for spreading "fake news" by engaging in misinformation against the vaccines to combat COVID-19.
Sen. Christopher "Bong” Go yesterday called on local government units and all other government agencies to reconcile their vaccine rollout databases and provide needed certifications for fully vaccinated individuals in accordance with the policy of the World Health Organization (WHO).
"We are coming up with another strategy. The A2 plus one strategy means not only the senior citizen will be vaccinated but also the household member who brought him or her to the inoculation site,” Cabotaje, also chairwoman of National Vaccine Operations Center (NVOC), said over Dobol B TV.
The household member is preferably someone who is taking care of the senior citizen, Cabotaje added. Even selected A3 (people with comorbidity) members and their caretakers may also be inoculated, she said.
As of August 12, the National Task Force against COVID-19 reported that 12,282,006 Filipinos or 17.19% of the country’s eligible target population have completed their vaccination. The eligible target population means those aged above 18 years old.
Meanwhile, 26,677,269 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered out of the 41,515,350 doses of COVID-19 vaccines secured from several manufacturers.
“Assuming the National Task Force Against Covid-19 succeeds in negotiating with foreign manufacturers the delivery of 25 million doses per month, we should start immunizing vulnerable children in the 12 to 15 age group by October, alongside the general adult population,” Defensor said.
“Children with suppressed immune systems, or those with underlying health conditions such as asthma, should be vaccinated ahead,” he added.
Defensor, the vice chairperson of the House committee on welfare of children, said 12.4 percent of Filipino children, mostly from low-income families, are afflicted with asthma.
“Children who are living with senior citizens may also be prioritized to receive shots, even if the seniors in the household have been fully vaccinated,” he said.
Based on reports, an increasing number of children are falling ill to COVID-19.
In Quezon City alone, 318 of the new Covid-19 cases recorded between Aug. 1 and Aug. 7 were children aged 17 and below, according to the City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit.
In June, the Food and Drug Administration approved Pfizer-BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine for use on Filipino children aged 12 to 15 corresponding to the age group of junior and senior high students, Defensor noted.
Earlier, the party-list lawmaker filed House Bill 9200, seeking to grant additional tax benefits to private entities paying for the COVID-19 vaccines of the country’s 23 million school children, including those below 12 years old, once shots are approved for their age groups.
Leachon debunked claims by retired UP Professor Dr. Romeo Quijano that Covid-19 vaccines are more dangerous than the new coronavirus.
Quijano, who in an interview with radio DZRH said he still does not get his Covid jab, alleged that the Covid vaccines would attack all systems of the body, so it is not safe to be inoculated.
To boost one's immune system as protection against Covid, Quijano said one should take Vitamin C, virgin coconut oil and ivermectin.
In debunking the claims raised by Quijano, Leachon noted that the Philippines logged 30,000 fatalities from the 1.7 million COVID-19 cases since last year.
"So how can you say that Covid-19 is not dangerous? It’s the greatest pandemic since the Spanish flu in 1918," said Leachon, also President of the Kilusang Kontra Kovid.
He also related that 350 million vaccine doses have been deployed globally at least for Pfizer and Moderna. In America, he said about 6,500 deaths were recorded, "so that's about .0019 percent."
However, Leachon clarified that not all of this number of deaths were related to vaccines as there's reported causal link.
He said it cannot be differentiated if all of them succumbed after receiving COVID shots. But they all died during the time of the vaccination.
"So, how can you say that the vaccines are more dangerous than the new virus?" questioned Leachon.