By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga
The Bacolod City government announced yesterday that it will begin vaccinating minors with comorbidities against coronavirus disease 2019, or COVID-19, on November 5.
In a statement released by the city government, they will inoculate minors belonging to the Pediatric A3 category aged between 12 to 17 years old.
According to the city’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC), they have long waited for the vaccination of minors, and they are more than ready to officially start the vaccination rollout to minors.
The EOC added vaccinating minors is part of the protection of “high risk or vulnerable groups.”
As per the Department of Health (DOH), the Pediatric A3 vaccination will focus on minors whose comorbidities include HIV, cancer and tuberculosis, among others.
Minors who have down syndrome are also qualified to get inoculated under this category.
The EOC is expected to administer only Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines.
EOC Executive Director Em Ang, meanwhile, said they already have a master list of minors who will be receiving the vaccine on November 5.
Parents of minors under the Pediatric A3 group can register through this link: https://tinyurl.com/bcdceirminors
Meanwhile, the DOH is advising minors who do not belong to the Pediatric A3 group to continue following COVID-19 health protocols like wearing of face masks, social distancing, and hand hygiene.
EOC Deputy for Medical Dr. Chris Sorongon said the city government aims to vaccinate more than 100,000 minors aged 12 to 17 years old.
“The EOC had coordinated with public and private schools for the master listing of our minor population aged 12 to 17,” added Sorongon.
As of October 16, the city government had already inoculated 213,828 out of the 422,000 target adult vaccinees, or about 50 percent of its adult population (aged 18 years old and above).
The city’s round-the-clock vaccination is also ongoing and they are now allowing walk-ins for all adults who are willing to get inoculated against COVID-19./DGB, WDJ