THE Davao City Vaccination Cluster reminded parents to register their children ages five to 11 to the SafeDavao QR (DQR) Code days before the pilot rollout of the Covid-19 pediatric vaccination.
Covid-19 Vaccination program head Dr. Josephine Villafuerte said in a radio interview on Tuesday morning, February 8, that securing their children with their personal DQR is important in the vaccination as this would record the complete information of their children's vaccination record.
"Mothers ug fathers, i-enroll nila sa DQR ang bata kay kabalo ka, once mag-register ang bata, pag walay DQR ang bata, dili siya i-pick up sa system (I would like to remind the mothers and fathers to enroll their children in the DQR because once they get vaccinated and yet they do not have the DQR, it cannot be incorporated in the system)," Villafuerte said in an interview on 87.5 FM Davao City Disaster Radio.
She emphasized that based on the DQR ordinance of the city, all residing residents, regardless of age, must register their own QR code.
Launched in November 2020, DQR is an electronic contact tracing and travel pass platform intended to be implemented for several purposes, which will be used by the City Government to improve its contact tracing efforts.
In 2021, the system was upgraded, wherein vaccination records were also incorporated. Among the information included are the date of vaccination, name of brand, the venue of the vaccination hub, and the vaccinator.
Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio said in a previous interview that the DQR system will be the basis of the vaccination status of a certain individual, and not the vaccination card as this might be prone for falsification.
Meanwhile, the City Government will pilot the pediatric vaccination for ages five to 11 on Monday, February 14.
The pediatric vaccination rollout was earlier scheduled on February 7, 2022, but due to the delayed arrival of the reformulated Pfizer vaccines, it had to be rescheduled.
The pilot launch in the National Capital Region (NCR), which was earlier set on February 4, was moved to February 7 instead due to the late arrival of the pediatric vaccines.
Hospitals that committed to conduct the pediatric vaccination include the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC), the Davao Doctors Hospital (DDH), the DMSF Hospitals, and the Seamen’s Hospital.
The Vaccination Cluster, during the Davao City Covid-19 Task Force meeting held February 7, reported that the Brokenshire Hospital and the Metro Davao Medical and Research Center (MDMRC) have yet to confirm their participation in the pediatric vaccination rollout.
City Covid-19 Task Force spokesperson Dr. Michelle Schlosser said the Vaccination Cluster Team met with different hospitals to finalize the details and preparations of the pediatric vaccination rollout.
“This is a special rollout for our kids as special syringes and a special formulation of the vaccine will be used. Most children of this age hadlokan og dagom (fearful of needles), we want the vaccination sites to be as playful, friendly, and less threatening as possible,” Schlosser said in a Viber interview with the City Information Office (CIO) on Monday afternoon, February 7.
She said the participating hospitals will spearhead their vaccination sites while the city’s Vaccination Cluster will provide the logistics (syringes and vaccines) needed as allocated by the Department of Health (DOH).
The dose for the adults and 12-17 vaccines is 0.3ml, while the five to 11 population will be given 0.2ml.
The city health official said once there will be glitches during the pilot rollout, the hospitals can address and manage them right there and then.
The said pediatric population shall be categorized as pediatric A3 with comorbidities and the rest of the pediatric population (without comorbidities).
The Vaccination Cluster Team said that other population groups shall not be vaccinated in designated vaccination sites for 5-11 years old.
Meanwhile, the team also encouraged vaccination sites to establish facilitative mechanisms for persons with special needs to ensure that beds or cots are in place in the post-vaccination monitoring area to manage possible cases of anxiety-related symptoms, and to have spacious, child-friendly, and well-ventilated site to accommodate the vaccine recipients’ parents and guardians.
The Pfizer Covid-19 vaccines for 5 to 11 years old shall preferably be stored in a dedicated vaccine refrigerator or other cold storage equipment.
She also reminded parents of children with comorbidities to get a templated medical certificate in the city’s operational vaccination hubs and have them filled up by their pediatricians before bringing their children to the designated sites for inoculation. (With reports from CIO)