LGUs told: Start masterlisting children ages 12-17 for COVID vaccines

Vials with Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine labels are seen in this illustration picture taken March 19, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/File Photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines – Local government units here are urged to start masterlisting children ages 12 to 17 years old, and who are qualified to receive COVID-19 vaccines manufactured by US pharmaceutical firms Moderna and Pfizer.

This after the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) recently granted Moderna an Emergency Authorization Use (EAU) for its vaccines for adolescents aged 12 to 17.

“We welcome the FDA approval of Moderna to include 12-17 years of age. However, we need to wait for the guidelines coming from our vaccine technical council and there is the issue of supply,” said Dr. Mary Jean Loreche, spokesperson of the Visayas Vaccination Operations Center (VVOC).

“In the meantime, we can start to include the 12-17 in the masterlisting so when supplies are adequate and the guidelines are released, then we can have this age group included (in the inoculation drive),” she added.

Moderna is the second COVID-19 vaccine to be given approval for use on adolescents. The FDA earlier allowed the use of the Pfizer vaccine for 12 to 15-year-olds.

The government has yet to include children and adolescents in its vaccination drive as it continues to strive to immunize the majority of the country’s adult population.

However, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said that the government is eyeing to open the vaccination to the general public, including vulnerable children with comorbidities by October this year.

The vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac also sought to get approval for its use on children aged 3 to 17 years. / with reports from INQUIRER.net

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