CHILDREN under 15 years old will not be taking part of the vaccination program for now as there are no Covid-19 vaccines yet for kids, City Epidemiologist Dr. Joselito Retuya said Wednesday, February 24, 2021.
"Sa pagkakaron, wala pay bakuna nga gi-testing sa mga bata. So ang gihatagan lang is 15 years old and above ang kasagaran nga mga vaccine," Retuya said.
Retuya said there are newer vaccines such as Johnson and Johnson as well as Pfizer and Moderna being developed for children, although vaccines for children are not being prioritized for clinical trials at present.
"Wala pa nato gipangtagaan og dako nga importansya ang mga kabatan-onan or ang mga bata less than 15 years old kay ang mga studies pud sa atong mga vaccines karon wala pay gipahigayon nga trials for 15 and under," Retuya said.
Meanwhile, healthcare workers/frontliners, seniors and persons with comorbidities will not be injected with the CoronaVac, but rather it will be administered to sellers, sales clerks, vendors and other economic frontliners.
Retuya said based on the assessment of the health experts panel, CoronaVac, the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Sinovac, will not be used to the aforementioned priority groups despite Sinovac securing the emergency use authorization.
However, CoronaVac can be used for medical personnel who are not directly handling Covid-19 patients, according to a statement of Food and Drug Administration Secretary-General Eric Domingo.