More than 8M adolescents vaccinated against Covid-19

OVER eight million adolescents aged 12 to 17 have been fully vaccinated against coronavirus disease (Covid-19), National Task Force (NTF) chief implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. said on Monday, February 14, 2022.

Galvez said a total of 8.073 million individuals belonging to the said age group have completed their Covid-19 vaccination, while around 9.3 million others received the first dose since November 2021 when the government started their inoculation.

He said as of Monday, at least 100,000 children ages five to 11 have received the first dose of Covid-19 vaccines.

Galvez said there were already around 482 pediatric vaccination sites established around the country.

He commended the local government units (LGU) and the private sector especially in making pediatric vaccination encouraging, fun and comfortable for their target population.

“Nakakatuwa rin po na marami pong sumuporta sa ating programa sa private sector, medical associations, at lalo na po ang mga magulang na pumila para mabakunahan ang kanilang mga anak,” he said.

“Ang daming mga mascot, maraming mga tinatawag nating parang children’s party and then nakikita natin na halos walang umiiyak. Very minimal po ang umiiyak dahil kasi unang-una, mayroon po silang mga loot bags, may mga sorbetes, may mga laruan, at saka nakakatuwa po dahil kasi parang nagpapaligsahan ang mga bata,” he added.

Galvez said a total of 61.5 million individuals in the country have been fully vaccinated, which is 78 percent of the targeted population.

Of the 222 million vaccine doses received by the Philippines, 131.7 million have already been administered.

Galvez said he will visit the provinces of Zamboanga and Basilan and other areas at the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Barmm) to encourage the residents to get vaccinated.

“Ang pinakamababa na lang po, Mister President, itong Barmm... nakita natin napakababa po ng kanilang ano (vaccination coverage) -- napakataas po ng hesitation. Kung makikita po natin iyong percentage nila is 28 percent. Hindi po umaangat,” he said.

Galvez also noted the importance of booster shots.

As of Monday, February 14, there were only nine million individuals who had their booster doses.

“Ito po kung makikita natin, mahal na Presidente, na talagang medyo mababa po, mabagal po ‘yung ating boostering. Dahil kasi nakikita natin na parang ano, parang ang ating mga kababayan ay parang kampante na sa two doses,” he said.

“Pero marami pong nagsasabi na mga expert na kailangan nating mag-boosters kasi after three months and four months, nagwa-wane na po ‘yung ating mga bakuna,” he added. (SunStar Philippines)