DAVAO CITY (MindaNews) – The vaccination for children aged 12 to 17 years old with comorbidities will start today at four hospitals in Davao City.
Dr. Michelle Schlosser, the spokesperson for the Davao City COVID-19 Task Force, told Davao City Disaster Radio (DCDR 87.5) on Wednesday that the minors belonging to priority group A3 or persons with comorbidities need to get vaccinated as they are considered as among the vulnerable sector who will most likely suffer from severe symptoms of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
These hospitals are the government-run Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC), Davao Doctors Hospital, Metro Davao Medical and Research Center, and Seamen’s Hospital.
Schlosser added that they still await confirmation from other private hospitals to become venues for the vaccination for minors.
Other provinces in the region will also start rolling out vaccination for minors. These hospitals are Davao del Sur Provincial Hospital, Davao Regional Medical Center in Tagum City, Davao de Oro Provincial Hospital, and Davao Oriental Provincial Medical Center.
According to the Department of Health (DOH)-Davao, the parents must bring on the day of vaccination a medical certificate detailing the child’s comorbidity, valid IDs of both the child and the parent or guardian, and any proof of filiation, like a birth certificate. The vaccine recipient must also be accompanied by the parent or guardian at the vaccination site.
The agency said children under A3 are those with underlying medical comorbidities and at risk of severe COVID-19. These are children identified with medical complexities, genetic conditions, neurologic conditions, metabolic or endocrine diseases, cardiovascular diseases, obesity, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), or tuberculosis.
Schlosser added that they expect that the vaccination for other schoolchildren will start one or two weeks after the rollout for children with comorbidities.
She said the sustainability of the rollout will depend on the availability of the supply of Comirnaty of the Pfizer-BioNTech, and Moderna, the anti-COVID-19 vaccines approved for use in children in the country.
She said the vaccinees will be screened at the vaccination site.
Doctors will also be deployed to check on the patients.
As of Oct. 20, the City Government of Davao reported 843,805 individuals who have received the first dose, and 727,946 or 60.66% of the target 1.2 million are fully vaccinated. As of Tuesday, DOH-Davao reported 101,875 total cases with 8,303 active, 90,269 recovered, and 3,303 deaths.
Out of the total cases, Davao City, the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in Mindanao, logged 52,956 cases with 1,739 active, 49,546 recovered and 1,671 deaths. Davao de Oro tallied 7,398 cases, Davao del Norte with 19,011, Davao del Sur with 11,365, Davao Occidental with 3,709, and Davao Oriental with 7,436. (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)
