The government is set to buy more of Pfizer-BioNTech's coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines to inoculate the country's teenagers against the disease, Malacañang said.
Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque made the statement after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it will amend the emergency use authorization (EUA) issued to Pfizer following information that their vaccine can be used on children aged 12 to 15.
In his press briefing on Thursday, Roque said the public can expect that the government will work on procuring more of the two-dose Pfizer vaccines to inoculate teenagers.
"Dahil 'yan lang naman ang bakuna na pwede sa teenagers, asahan po natin na bibili tayo ng mas maraming Pfizer para sa teenagers (Because it is the only brand of vaccine that can be given to teenagers, you can expect that we will buy more Pfizer shots for them)," he said.
"Matapos po yung July 4 sa America na tinatawag nilang independence day from COVID, inaasahan natin na luluwag na ang supply ng Pfizer (After July 4, or what they call in America as their independence day from COVID-19, we expect that there will be more supply of Pfizer vaccines)," he added.
However, Roque said vaccination of teenagers may only start when the Pfizer vaccines procured by the government arrives.
"Gagamitin po natin ang Pfizer 'pag dumating na yung ating mga biniling mga Pfizer (We will use Pfizer when the Pfizer shots we bought have arrived).
"Yung mga Pfizer na dumarating po ngayon galing po 'yan sa COVAX Facility, kinakailangan po ilaan natin 'yan para sa mga indigents (The Pfizer shots we have now are from the COVAX Facility so we need to use them for indigents)," he added.
Early this month, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 12 to 15 years old, a move described by the FDA as a "significant step in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic."
"Today's action allows for a younger population to be protected from COVID-19, bringing us closer to returning to a sense of normalcy and to ending the pandemic," Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock said in a statement.