(Eagle News) – President Rodrigo Duterte said that the vaccination of children and the general population could hopefully be done within October due to the increasing vaccine deliveries to the country.
In his Talk to the People on Sept. 27, Duterte said that the country is expecting at least 100 million vaccine doses by the end of October, citing the report of vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr.
Because of this, the President said “we can expand the vaccination program to the general population and hopefully also our children within October.”
“Also we continue to ramp up our vaccination drive and (we) are targeting to administer around a total of 55 million vaccines by October,” Duterte said.
The President also reported that for the past several days, new COVID-19 cases have been declining as well as the virus reproduction rate.
He again pleaded for all those who have not yet received a vaccine to get vaccinated so they could be protected against getting severe COVID-19.
National Task Force against COVID-19 chief implementer Galvez earlier said the government could open vaccination for children aged 12 to 17 years old by mid-October as the country is getting more vaccine supplies.
He said that they are targeting to vaccinate around 12 million children — with ages from 12 to 17 years old – using vaccines that have been given emergency use authorization (EUA) for this age group. So far, the Philippine Food and Drug Administration (EUA) has already revised the EUA it had earlier granted to Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to include children aged 12 to 17.
The NTF is just waiting for the go-signal from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the country’s National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (NITAG) so the country could start vaccinating children, as well as give booster shots to health frontliners who are working in COVID wards, or those exposed to attending to COVID-19 cases.
Vaccines against COVID-19 are said to be effective up to six months since the administration of the full dose.
(Eagle News Service)
