MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte has urged Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) chief Persida Acosta not to dissuade parents from having their children vaccinated against COVID-19.
“If you don’t want to get vaccinated, go ahead. Leave the children out of it,” Duterte said in Filipino during his pre-recorded public address on Monday night.
Duterte said the suggestion to call out Acosta, who remains unvaccinated against COVID-19, came from two members of his Cabinet.
Acosta is representing two parents who filed a petition before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court to stop the government’s COVID-19 vaccination drive for children five to 11 years old.
“Get the vaccines and include your children because it will ensure their health and life in the future,” the President said.
In his report to the President, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said unvaccinated individuals account for around 93 percent of deaths and 85 percent of severe and critical cases.
The Chief Executive then reminded the public not to be complacent as the pandemic is not yet over despite the declining COVID-19 cases in the country. “We are not over the hump. We can’t say (COVID-19) is gone because the microbes are still in the air. That’s airborne,” Duterte said.
For his part, Sen. Bong Go strongly encouraged parents to get the information they need about the vaccines from trusted health care providers and health experts, such as their pediatricians.
“To parents who have concerns about our COVID-19 vaccines, I encourage you to consult with your doctors, health experts or the DOH to properly lay out the information you need to know. Let’s not just believe what is being spread on social media,” cautioned Go.
He pointed out that public health experts largely agree that the vaccines are the most effective form of protection against the virus.
Tourism Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat said the expanded pediatric vaccination would help push the recovery of the tourism sector, as it would give children extra protection when visiting the country’s tourism destinations.
“It has been embedded in our culture that Filipinos are family-focused travelers. Now that the summer season is fast approaching, such an initiative is very timely as we push for the full recovery of the tourism sector that has been heavily impacted by the pandemic,” Puyat said during the ceremonial vaccination of children in Mandaluyong City yesterday afternoon.
Kids jabbed
Some 9,784 children aged 5-11 years old were inoculated against COVID-19 on Monday across 32 sites, with one child reported having a mild reaction to the vaccine, DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire reported yesterday.
“The turn out was good. Our vaccination sites were really prepared because these were children. There were balloons and other gimmicks so they will feel comfortable and they will not be scared,” Vergeire noted.
Of the vaccinees, an 11-year-old child had “rashes on the extremities, the arms after getting the vaccine. He was given an anti-allergy medication,” she added.
Vergeire said the child was managed and given anti-allergy medication at the vaccination site. After the rashes subsided, he was allowed to go home.
DOH Technical Advisory Group member and pediatric infectious disease expert Anna Ong-Lim maintained the one adverse reaction “mirrors what has been reported in other countries that the majority of reactions experienced or post -vaccination reactions are really classified as mild.”
Safe for kids
US embassy Charge’ d’ Affaires Heather Variava assured the public on Monday that the vaccines are safe for children, citing the US experience in the vaccination of children aged five to 11 years old, where no adverse effects were recorded.
“We have seen no serious side effects and children here at the US embassy have also been vaccinated and not report any adverse side effects,” Variava said during the ceremonial vaccination of children at the National Children’s Hospital on Feb. 7.
Data showed that globally, 8.7 million children aged 5-11 have received the vaccine and of this number, 2.4 percent had mild reactions. Only 0.00013 percent have experienced myocarditis or pericarditis but they have fully recovered.
In the Philippines, the government is targeting to inoculate a total of 15,564,305 children in 5-11 age group. – Sheila Crisostomo, Jose Rodel Clapano, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Romina Cabrera