Manila: Filipino children ages 5- to 11-year will start getting COVID jabs on February 4, upon delivery of the first shipment of Pfizer’s paediatric shots for children, it was announced on Wednesday.
There are an estimated 14.7 Filipino children ages 5 to 11.
Safe, effective
The vaccine is both safe and effective, said Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., chief of the National Task Force Against COVID-19 (NTF), Galves announced the kick-off of inoculation among 5-11-year-olds at a meeting with President Duterte in Malacañang on Monday night.
4,650
number of children ages 5 to 11 years who took part in clinical trials of Pfizer paediatric vaccine in 90 sites across 4 countriesGalvez said the Pfizer vaccine had “a lower formulation appropriate for children.” Galvez, a retired Philippine Army general who also serves as the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, also said the government has more experience now in the nationwide rollout of vaccines, following the COVID inoculation drive on minors ages 12 to 17.
Since July, cases of COVID-19 among children reportedly rose 240% in the US alone. In December, the World Health Organisation in Europe reported that kids in 5-14 age group showed highest COVID-19 rates, though children have tended to face less severe cases than more vulnerable populations like older people, health care workers and people with weaker immune systems.
Globally, there are 1.5 billion school-age kids affected by school closures.
▶ Children ages 5 to 11 years: two-doses of 10 µg (vs. 30-µg dose used for people 12 and older)
▶ Children under age 5 received a 3 µg dose for each injection.
▶ The two-dose regimen were administered 21 days apart.
▶ In trials, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has shown 90.7% efficacy in children aged 5 to 11.
▶ µg stands from microgram, or one-millionth of a gram
Manila's children to get jab first
The plan is to immediately set up two vaccination sites for each of the 16 cities and one municipality in Metro Manila, said Galvez. Both hospital and non-hospital vaccination sites would be opened.
90.7 %
efficacy of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in preventing severe COVID cases and hospitalisation among children ages 5 to 11Vaccination sites in other regions will open a week later. “The supply will arrive next week and we could roll it out by February 4,” Galvez said.
NTF adviser Dr. Ted Herbosa said 780,000 doses of Pfizer’s pediatric vaccine would arrive on January 31, 2022. Subsequent deliveries will be made weekly to complete the 15 million shots of the two-dose vaccine ordered by the Philippine government from the New York-based pharmaceutical company, Herbosa said.
▶ Paediatric trials were conducted in more than 90 clinical trial sites in the US, Finland, Poland and Spain. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine trial enrolled up to 4,650 children ages 6 months to 11 years of.
▶ Of that number, nearly two-thirds received vaccine; the others received a placebo.
‘No reason to fear for safety’
The plan is to inoculate 14.7 million Filipino children in the 5 to 11 age group, the youngest so far authorized to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
Dr. Lulu Bravo, executive director of the Philippine Foundation for Vaccination, said there was no reason to fear for the safety of the children.
Bravo said Filipino children have been receiving vaccines against various illnesses for the last 50 years. The mass vaccinations brought down paediatric deaths due to measles, diphtheria, tetanus, polio, meningitis and diarrhoea. Hesitancy in vaccinating children could be addressed with scientific data, Bravo said.
“Let us not believe quack doctors who pretend that they are good,” she told local media. “People should believe those who devote every year to studying the vaccines, conduct a real vaccine trial.”
Review
The Philippine keeps a reporting database to gather information on adverse effects of vaccines. In its latest report, the Philippines’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said that it received 2,732 reports on the effects of the vaccines on adolescents who were inoculated from October 15, 2021, to January 16, 2022 this year.
It said 139 cases were “serious,” 2,563 were “non-serious” and that the effects on the rest had not yet been determined.
The most common reactions were dizziness, pain at the site of the injection, fever, headache and high blood pressure. There were two cases of myocarditis, or the inflammation of the heart muscle, and a lone case of pericarditis, or the inflammation of the lining outside the heart.
Top 3 reactions to COVID shots
These are known side effects of the COVID-19 vaccines of both Pfizer and Moderna in adolescents and young adults. The cases are are being reviewed, FDA said in its report. The agency stressed, however, that the benefits of getting jabbed outweigh the risks.
Dr Mary Ann Bunyi, head of the Pediatric Infectious Disease Society of the Philippines, assured that the government-provided vaccines are effective and safe to use especially for children.
The government started inoculations of 12-to-17-year-olds on November 3, 2021. On Wednesday (January 26, 2022), a health expert said 94% of the adverse reactions reported among children aged 12 to 17 years old who were vaccinated against COVID-19 were "mild", a health expert said Wednesday.
The Department of Health (DOH) said the top three reactions to immunisation recorded for this age group are vaccination site pain, headache, and dizziness.
"This COVID-19 vaccine distributed by the government is an opportunity for your families to be protected from Covid-19, Bunyi told an online forum. Bunyu, who is also a member of the national immunization technical advisory group. told an online media forum, said children with preexisting health conditions are at higher risk for severe type of COVID-19.
Many countries have started COVID-19 inoculations among children, including: Argentina, Australia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, South Korea, US and the UAE. In China, children as young as 3 are eligible for Chinese-made COVID-19 shots
Pharmacies to give booster shots
In Baguio City, booster shots will be administered City from Wednesday. Acting presidential spokesperson Karlo Nograles said 2,626 booster shots were administered in the first four days of the new program to use pharmacies or private clinics as venues for inoculations, after it was rolled out in Metro Manila last week.
