DAVAO City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio said the City Government will be seeking consent from the Department of Health (DOH) to administer anti-Covid vaccines to school pupils aged 12 to 17 years old enrolled in the five schools piloting the face-to-face (F2F) classes.
Duterte-Carpio said in a radio interview on Monday, October 4, that this was the recommendation of the vaccination cluster of the Davao City Covid-19 Task Force during a meeting.
She added that pupils under the priority age group will be prioritized regardless of comorbidities.
“It was also discussed sa vaccine cluster reporting kaganina that they will include also the vaccination of the five schools that were submitted for pilot face-to-face sa Department of Education [DepEd] (It was discussed during the report of the vaccine cluster earlier that they will also include in the vaccination roll-out the five schools that were submitted for the pilot face-to-face classes of DepEd.) So, they will seek permission for that, whether or not naay (they have) comorbidity but they were selected to be pilot school,” Duterte-Carpio said in an interview on 87.5 FM Davao City Disaster Radio.
The mayor recently revealed that the city had selected the five schools to be recommended for the pilot limited F2F classes as these areas have minimal risk of the Covid-19 infection.
These schools are the Dalagdag National High School with Senior High in Barangay Dalagdag, G. Tajo National High School with Senior High in Barangay Lampianao, Saloy National High School with Senior High in Barangay Saloy, Mabuhay Elementary School now Victor Bernal Integrated School with Kindergarten in Barangay Mabuhay, and Gumitan Elementary School with Kindergarten in Barangay Gumitan.
Duterte-Carpio also said that only the fully-vaccinated teaching and non-teaching personnel should be allowed to report in those pilot schools.
President Rodrigo Duterte said the government might be able to vaccinate the general population, including children, against Covid-19 in October this year.
Covid-19 Task Force Spokesperson Dr. Michelle Schlosser said that the National Covid-19 Task Force Vaccination Operations Center through its Advisory No. 89, has issued guidance on the vaccination of Public and Private School Teaching and Non-Teaching Personnel in Educational Institutions to prepare for the eventual re-opening of limited face-to-face classes for students, especially in basic education institutions.
Meanwhile, Dr. Raquel Montejo, DOH-Davao Local Health Support Division chief, said they are still waiting for the guidelines from the national government with regards to the vaccination of the 12-17 age group, which is currently being piloted at the National Capital Region (NCR).
Montejo said those with comorbidities must secure a medical clearance from their doctor and parent’s consent.
Meanwhile, vaccination on the general population aged 18 years old and above will kick off in the region, once additional vaccines will be allocated.
SunStar Davao has reached out to DepEd-Davao spokesperson Jenielito Atillo for comments on the mayor’s statement, but he has also not responded as of writing.
But he said earlier that based on the guidelines of the national DepEd, teachers and non-teaching personnel who will be deployed in the F2F classes must be fully vaccinated.