With the goal of protecting the general public from the current COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Health (DOH) continuously campaigns for mass vaccination including the pediatric population aged 5-11 years old. Children are an important sector of the population and the future of our country; hence, they must also be protected from COVID-19 through vaccination.
Over 8.7M children have already been vaccinated worldwide, with zero deaths attributable to vaccines. In Central Luzon, a target of 1.6M children are to be vaccinated against COVID-19, having around 111,000 children for the Province of Bataan. Today, the Bataan General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC) started its vaccination roll-out among the said target population, and were able to vaccinate at least 80 children.
“To all parents and caregivers, we are here and we can work together in protecting our children from COVID-19 pandemic. With almost two years of having remote learning and not seeing the outdoors, the government is doing its best efforts by having the pediatric population be vaccinated. The vaccine will provide adequate protection for our children against severe illness from the disease,” said DOH CLCHD OIC-Director Corazon Flores.
On the other hand, Bataan Provincial Governor Albert Garcia mentioned: “You can rely on us to be your good partner in implementing the vaccination roll-out as the province is aiming for a higher life expectancy; through vaccination, all of our constituents will be protected from this disease, including the younger population. Parents and caregivers should really understand the importance and benefits of COVID-19 vaccines.”
“Through this pandemic, we have learned a lot in bettering our service to the people. We can use all our experiences from data analysis to management and response in advancing the implementation of Universal Health Care (UHC) in our province,” Gov. Garcia concluded.
At present, only Pfizer-BioNTech has been granted EUA for the vaccination of the pediatric population ages 5-11 years old. It shall be given in two doses, with 21 days apart.
Benefits such as protection from severe COVID-19 and long-term complications of COVID-19, as well as safer return to school, outweigh the potential risks of common side effects ranging from fever, pain in the injection site, fatigue, and headache.
To increase the vaccination coverage among the target population, Jose B. Lingad Memorial General Hospital (Pampanga), Dr. Paulino J. Garcia Memorial Research and Medical Institute (Nueva Ecija), Bulacan Medical Center (Bulacan), and Tarlac Provincial Hospital (Tarlac) will also be launching the COVID-19 Vaccination among 5-11 years old on February 09 and 11 respectively.
