The City government of Manila has enough coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) jabs for minors 12 to 17 years old as the mass vaccination for the age group with comorbidities resumed on Monday.
Manila Vice Mayor Honey Lacuna, a medical doctor, made the rounds of five of the city’s six district hospitals and administered some shots.
Lacuna inspected the inoculation activities at the Gat Andres Bonifacio Medical Center in Tondo, Ospital ng Tondo, Justice Jose Abad Santos General Hospital in Binondo, Ospital ng Sampaloc, and Sta. Ana Hospital.
She already visited the Ospital ng Maynila on Friday during the pilot launch, with 222 minors inoculated.
Faye Orellana of the Manila Public Information Office said the city government had set aside the vaccines for minors as early as a month ago.
“As per the data of the Manila Health Department last week, 23,354 vaccines intended for the inoculation of the said priority group are in the storage of the city government. Ang 22,854 po dito ay Pfizer while the remaining 500 po ay Moderna (Of the total, 22,854 of these are Pfizer while the remaining 500 are Moderna jabs),” Orellana said in a text message.
Dr. Myrna Paloma, Ospital ng Tondo director, reiterated that vaccinating minors against Covid-19 are as important as vaccinating the adult population.
“Vaccinating the pediatric age group is important since it will reduce the mortality among the youngest age group particularly those with comorbidities,” Paloma said in another text message.
“Children 12 years old and above and those who live in areas with high transmission rate should be vaccinated. By this, it will ensure the safety of our future generation and it will help in the attainment of herd immunity.”
Orellana said that as of Oct. 24, the city government has 45,047 minors under the 12 to 17 age group already registered through the http://manilacovid19vaccine.ph portal, broken down as follows: Districts I and II, 15,018; District III, 5,136; District IV, 8,463; District V, 9,752; and District VI, 6,678.
As of 4 p.m. on Monday, 530 minors with comorbidities have received the first dose to raise the city’s total to 752 after two days of inoculation. (PNA)
