Today, the Jose B. Lingad Memorial General Hospital (JBLMGH) opens its door to vaccinate children aged 5-11 years old against COVID-19.
Medical Center Chief, Dr. Monserrat Chichioco said: “We are doing this for our children; we want to protect them from this virus. And eventually, we are hoping that they can resume to their face-to-face classes, and live a normal life. This may be possible if we reach the population protection. We have to vaccinate as many as we can. We will be glad to accommodate each one, starting from 5-11 age group, to 12-17 years old, up to the adult population. On February 10 and 11, we will again be having our Bayanihan Bakunahan, a mass vaccination drive to further increase our coverage. The JBLMGH will be continuously open for those who wish to be vaccinated.”
Meanwhile, Pampanga Provincial Governor Dennis Pineda encourages the parents and caregivers to have their children be vaccinated. “I will let my grandchild be vaccinated because I believe in the safety and efficacy of the vaccine. This will provide protection from severe COVID-19 and its long term complications. To those parents who already submitted their children for vaccination, I salute you! Because this only means that you are securing your child’s future. You wanted them to be safe and protected.”
Further, Secretary Vivencio Dizon, Deputy Chief Implementer of the National Task Force Against COVID-19, reiterated that vaccines are safe and effective, and that parents should not be afraid to let their children be vaccinated. “To all the parents, please do not be afraid. The vaccines that we are using are the same vaccines used in the United States wherein 8M children were vaccinated, and up to this date, none of them had serious effects. Only common side effects were noted, such as mild fever, headache, and pain on the injection site.”
“Recently, we had surge in cases, and it was noted that the percentage of children is high among those infected. Now, we already have the vaccines to protect them; a protection that will give us comfort knowing that our children are secured from this disease.” Sec. Dizon added.
“With the virus continuously circulating in our country, our children really need the vaccines. We have to protect them. We have to ensure that they are vaccinated so they can live the life they lived before this pandemic.” Sec. Dizon concluded.
Out of the 1.6M children aged 5-11 years old target in Central Luzon, a total of 317,095 children are from the Province of Pampanga. Today, the JBLMGH targets to vaccinate at least 160 children. To further heighten the vaccination coverage, Governor Pineda said that the province will expand its vaccination in the next couple of weeks.
