Vaccination for minors with comorbidities, who are from 12 to 17, will be vaccinated with either Pfizer or Moderna vaccines. In photo are vials with Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine | REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/File Photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City will begin the vaccination for minors with comorbidities tomorrow, October 29, 2021.
City Health Officer-in-charge, Doctor Jeffrey Ibones, said that they would hold a ceremonial launch at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) for at least 100 minors.
Minors aged 12 to 17 years can be vaccinated with either Pfizer or Moderna vaccine provided their parents will give their consent and supervise the vaccination.
Since the minors with comorbidities are prioritized in the vaccination program, the city chooses to hold the launch at a hospital.
However, Ibones notes that the vaccination site is not within the VSMMC hospital itself, but in a building within the VSMMC compound.
This was a response to the appeal of parents that the vaccination sites not be inside the hospitals where COVID-19 patients were being treated.
“Mao pud na atong nakita kay mobalibad sila basta sa hospital. So ato gyod paninguhaon nga sa laing sites nga duol sa hospital na lang,” said Ibones.
(That is what we saw that they would refuse if its in the hospital. So we are trying our best to find sites near the hospital.)
Ibones said that minors must be accompanied by parents or guardians during the vaccination.
A medical certificate and the identification cards (ID) of the parent and child must be brought to the vaccination site as well.
Ibones notes that the parents of minors to be vaccinated will be informed through text for their vaccination schedule and the site.
Unfortunately walk-in is not yet an option as there are more requirements to holding vaccination for minors compared to that of adults.
The presence of pediatricians, ambulances, on-site medical staff and others are required for the vaccination site.
Ibones said the biggest challenge in the vaccination of minors would be to convince parents to get their children vaccinated.
“Kung dili magpabakuna ang mama, dili sad gyod na pabakunahan ang anak,” he said.
(If the mother will not say yes to having their child vaccinated then the child will not be vaccinated.)
The city government is working on information dissemination to convince more people to get vaccinated.
For now, the city has registered 7,600 minors without comorbidities and 900 minors with comorbidities in its system.
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