Pinaplano na ngayon ng gobyerno na maisama na ang mga bata sa matuturukan ng bakuna laban sa coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) sa bansa.
Ito ang reaksyon ni National Task Force Against Covid-19 chief implementer Secretary Carlito Galvez, Jr. nitong Linggo sa naiulat na maraming bata ang nakaratay sa pediatric COVID-19 ward ng Philippine General Hospital (PGH) nang tamaan ng virus.
“We have reported this to the President (Rodrigo Duterte) during our talk to the people and we have stated that during the Delta attack in India, more than 9,000 in a village were children. We proposed to the NITAG (interim National Immunization Technical Advisory Group) that we have to include children as soon as possible considering they will also be vulnerable, particularly children with comorbidities. We have seen in PGH the three critical there,dalawa doon may(two of them have) comorbidities. Very vulnerable andbata kasi nakikita natin hindi pa ganun kalakas kanilang resistensyain terms of pulmonary diseases,” pahayag ni Galvez, isa sa mga opisyal ng pamahalaan na sumalubong sa pagdating ng 326,400 doses ng Moderna vaccine sa Ninoy Aquino International Airport-Terminal 3 sa Pasay City, nitong Linggo.
“We are trying to look and maybe by the end of September or October, we will open up pediatrics and adolescent vaccination. Meron kami nine-negotiate na more or less 26 million doses intended for our pediatrics vaccination,” paglilinaw nito.
Kapag natuloy ang plano, matuturukananiya ng bakuna ang mga batang mula 12 hanggang 17 taong gulang.
"Initiallyang nakita natinwe will start from 12 to 17.Sa ngayon angpriority population is 18 and above. Pfizer applied for EUA (emergency use authorization) with our Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and FDA already approved it, and Sinovac has already applied, most likely it will be approved by FDA. Three years and aboveangSinovac. Once we have enough supply of those vaccines, we can start for as long as the experts will allow their use for the 12 years and above and maybe three years and above,” paniniyak pa ni Galvez.
PNA