(UPDATED) President Rodrigo Duterte said the government might be able to vaccinate the general population, including children, against coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) in October 2021.
In his weekly Talk to the People Monday, September 27, 2021, Duterte quoted vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. as saying that total Covid-19 vaccine deliveries will exceed 100 million doses by the end of October.
“(This) means that maybe we can expand the vaccination program to the general population and, hopefully, also our children within October,” he said.
“Also, we continue to ramp up our vaccination drive and (we) are targeting to administer around a total of 55 million (doses of) vaccines by October,” he added.
Some local government units, however, are already administering the vaccine to individuals who are not yet eligible for the vaccine.
As of Monday, Duterte said more than 44 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered nationwide and many urban centers — Metro Manila, Baguio, Cebu, Iloilo, and Davao — have already inoculated more than 50 percent of the target population.
More than 20.3 million individuals have been fully vaccinated out of 23.6 million who have received one dose.
The fully vaccinated individuals comprise around 26 percent of the eligible population.
The government is currently vaccinating priority groups A1 (health workers), A2 (senior citizens), A3 (persons with comorbidities), A4 (essential workers) and A5 (indigent).
In his press briefing Monday, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. announced that Duterte has approved the vaccination of the general population, including adolescents 12 to 17 years old.
He urged parents to register their children who are eligible to receive the vaccine with their respective local government units.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted emergency use authorization to Moderna and Pfizer for the use of their mRNA vaccines in children aged 12 to 17 years old. (Marites Villamor-Ilano / Third Anne Peralta-Malonzo / SunStar Philippines)