THE City of Davao may be able to achieve a 100-percent vaccination of the total population by targeting at least 260,000 children against Covid-19.
Dr. Michelle Schlosser, spokesperson of the Davao City Covid-19 Task Force, said the city has vaccinated nearly all of the 70-percent target population and has a big chance of vaccinating the entire population of approximately 1.8 million if 260,000 children were included.
The Task Force said it is targeting to vaccinate 260,191 children between the ages five to 11 years for the pediatric vaccination set on February 14.
“Katong gina-achieve nato na herd immunity or katong 70 percent sa atong population, hapit naman nato ma-100 percent. Now we are looking into the total population of 1.8 (million) so hopefully kung mabakunahan nato ning tanan five to 11 years old, dako og chance na ma-100 percent nato ang total population,” said Schlosser during a radio interview on Wednesday.
(We are nearing the target immunity of 70 percent of our population. We are now looking to fully vaccinate our total population of 1.8 million persons. Hopefully, we can achieve that by including the vaccination of kids ages five to 11 years old.)
The pilot run of the pediatric vaccination in the city will be held in partner hospitals -- the Southern Philippines Medical Center, Davao Doctors Hospital, Davao Medical School Foundation, and Seaman’s Hospital.
The Metro Davao Medical Research Center and Brokenshire Hospital are still pending confirmation.
The duration for the pilot run in hospitals is targeted to last one to two weeks before vaccination hubs will cater to children.
Schlosser said it’s important to open a vaccination solely for the five to 11 years old that is separate from the population group of 12 years old and above.
She said it is to make a non-threatening and kid-friendly environment, as well as to avoid incidents wherein doses intended for kids could be used for adults, and vice versa.
“Definitely trained atong mga vaccinators but we cannot be too lenient ana, to avoid mistakes,” said Schlosser.
(Our vaccinators are trained, but we cannot be too lenient to avoid mistakes.)
Schlosser also said walk-ins are allowed in the pediatric vaccination, however, pre-registration is encouraged and can be done via the Safe Davao QR or at participating hospitals.
The Davao City Covid-19 Task Force initially eyed to start the vaccination earlier on February 7 but was delayed since specialized vaccines for kids had not arrived yet.
The pilot run on February 14 will be simultaneous with the whole Davao Region, wherein the Department of Health-Davao targets to vaccinate a total of 790,236 children ages five to 11 years old.