Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo welcomed Saturday the government’s plan to vaccinate the pediatric sector against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

The inoculation of individuals aged 12 to 17 would help the country achieve population protection, Panelo said during his commentary show Counterpoint.

“Hindi natin maa-attain ‘yung ating goal na herd immunity kung iyang mga iyan eh hindi pa nababakuhanan (We would not be able to achieve our goal to have herd immunity if they are not vaccinated),” Panelo said.

Panelo issued the statement after National Task Force Against Covid-19 chief implementer and vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. on Tuesday said the government is eyeing the vaccination of the 29 million individuals belonging to the pediatric sector by September or October this year.

Galvez said Covid-19 vaccines developed by the United States’ Pfizer-BioNTech could be administered to individuals below 18 years of age.

Panelo stressed the need to vaccinate the “sizeable” pediatric sector as Covid-19 would not be contained if children would not be inoculated.

“Hindi natin matitigil ‘yung pag-spread o pag-kalat ng coronavirus kung merong isang malaking bahagi sa populasyon natin kagaya niyang sinasabing mga batang iyan na 29 million malaking bahagi iyan (We would not be able to stop the spread of the virus if that big part of the population – the 29 million children – are not vaccinated),” he said.

The United States has approved the administration of Pfizer vaccines among those aged 12 to 15.

The Food and Drug Administration has announced its plan to amend Pfizer’s emergency use authorization for Covid-19 vaccine so it can be administered to those belonging to the 12 to15 age group.

At present, teenagers are not included in the government’s inoculation drive due to the limited vaccine supply.

The Philippine government intends to vaccinate up to 70 million Filipinos this year to achieve population protection. (PNA)