Parents can now start registering their children aged 5 to 11 as vaccination for the pediatric population in Central Visayas starts in February, a Department of Health (DOH)-Region 7 official on Wednesday said.

Dr. Mary Jean Loreche, DOH-7 chief pathologist, said the region is scheduled to receive vaccine doses intended for this age group “sometime in January 31 to February 2.”

“When they arrive, they will initially be rolled out in the National Capital Region, not yet in the provinces. Because they want to see how it is (to be done) including the process because, remember, we are dealing now with a younger age population,” Loreche said in a mix of English and Filipino during the Visayas Vaccination Operations Center (VVOC) briefing.

She said the children will be administered with Pfizer and Moderna vaccines but with different dosage formulation, dilution requirement, doses for administration, and storage conditions.

Although the regional DOH here is still waiting for the guidelines from the central office, Loreche said the region is ready to administer coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccines to the 5 to 11 years old children population.

“As to guidelines, we wait for the national guidelines (to arrive) once we have it, then we will share it with everybody here so that we will all be guided,” she said, adding that local government units can now start the registration for the age group.

Loreche suggested to LGUs to replicate what the barangay health workers (BHW) and Barangay Health Emergency Rescue Team (BHERT) were doing in visiting every household to register, not only the pediatric age, but all age groups in the family that are still unvaccinated until this time.

Based on VVOC records as of January 25, Loreche said 3.7 percent of the 112,012 pediatric population aged 12 to 16 with comorbidities have already been fully vaccinated while 10.4 percent have received their first dose.

She said that of the 1.009 million children and teenagers who do not have any existing comorbidities listed as rest of the pediatric population (ROPP), 32 percent are fully vaccinated and 45 percent received their first dose.

Both pediatric age groups have no record on booster doses yet.

However, Loreche urged parents of the 129,721 children and teenagers who have no diseases at all to send them to the vaccination sites to have their jabs against Covid-19. (PNA)