Portion of US-donated Pfizer jabs to be allocated for minors

MANILA – As the Philippines is set to roll out the vaccination of minors this week, the United States government has completed the delivery of its donated 1.8 million Pfizer vaccine doses with the arrival of almost a million additional jabs on Monday afternoon.

An Emirates plane carrying a total of 924,300 doses landed at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 at 4 p.m.

Head of the National Task Force (NTF) Against Covid-19’s sub-task group on current operations Assistant Secretary Wilben Mayor was accompanied by Health Undersecretary Carolina Vidal-Taiño, US Embassy cultural affairs officer Nina Lewis, and Bernard Bersola of UNICEF in welcoming the latest shipment.

“This completes the 1.8 million, which is part of the 10 million donations of the US Government. On behalf of Secretary Galvez and the Philippine Government, we’d like to thank the US government for donating us these vaccines,” Mayor said.

Mayor said the vaccines will be distributed to the various regions in the country, as he urged local government units (LGUs) to ramp up the rollout of the vaccines.

He said a portion of the donated vaccines will be allocated for the pediatric age-group vaccination.

“Pfizer is one of the vaccines that will be used for the inoculation of our adolescents aged 12 to 17. Pfizer has already an EUA, which is intended for adolescents,” he said.

Mayor said a total of 87 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine have arrived in the country, while 23 million individuals are already fully vaccinated.

COVAX is co-led by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, and the World Health Organization, alongside the United Nations Children’s Fund.

The facility aims to accelerate the development and manufacture of Covid-19 vaccines and to guarantee equitable access for every country.

Gov’t-procured Pfizer doses

Some 272,610 Pfizer doses procured by the government are expected to arrive at about 9:20 p.m. Monday.

Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Francisco Duque III earlier said the inoculation of 15 to 17 years old will be done first, followed by the 12 to 14 years group.

Parental or guardian consent is needed before a minor can receive a shot while the vaccination will be piloted in select NCR hospitals to closely monitor the possible adverse effects.

“Para sa ganoon, kung magkaroon man ng mga adverse event following immunization ay at least nasa loob na po ng hospital at mabilis na matugunan kung magkaroon man ng emergency (So that in case there will be adverse events, following immunization, at least we are inside the hospital and we can immediately address the emergency),” he said during a press briefing held in Clark, Pampanga where officials witnessed a mall vaccination activity on Oct. 4.

Minors with comorbidities will be prioritized at jabs sites Philippine Children’s Medical Center, National Children’s Hospital, Philippine Heart Center, Pasig City Children’s Hospital, Fe Del Mundo Medical Center, and Philippine General Hospital.

The Food and Drug Administration initially approved the emergency use authorization of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for the inoculation.