MANILA – A health official stated on Tuesday that the country’s vaccine experts are drafting guidelines for the administration of Sinovac’s Covid-19 vaccine for children six years old and above.
The Food and Drug Administration approved on March 11 the emergency use authorization (EUA) for Sinovac’s CoronaVac which allows the Chinese vaccine to be used for pediatric vaccination.
“Parang paggamit din natin sa 5 years and above, kailangan titignan natin mabuti kasi ang nasa EUA ng Sinovac ay for healthy individuals, healthy children. So, baka hindi kasama ‘yung ating mga (It’s like [the administration of vaccine] for 5 years and above, we need to be careful because the EUA for Sinovac states for healthy individuals, healthy children. So, this may not include children) with comorbidities,” National Vaccination Operations Center Chief Myrna Cabotaje said in a televised public briefing.
According to Cabotaje, the same CoronaVac dose formulation used on adults will be used on minors, unlike the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine which had to be reformulated.
“So, we don’t need to buy additional Sinovac [vaccines], we have enough on stock,” she said.
The government will not reduce its supply of Pfizer vaccine because it has only purchased 15 million doses of Pfizer vaccine for pediatric vaccination.
The NVOC previously said that there are 15.5 million children aged 5 to 11 years old across the country.
Since each child requires two doses of the vaccine, the 15 million doses of Pfizer vaccine would only cover seven million minors.
The government might consider procuring additional five million doses of Pfizer vaccine for minors, Cabotaje said.
“So, mga 20 million that will cover 10 million children na two doses (So, we’ll have 20 million [doses] that will cover 10 million children [needing] two doses). So, the Sinovac will provide additional quantities for the children and parents who may not want to use the Pfizer and they want to use the Sinovac,” she added.
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