The Department of Health (DOH) said that teenagers aged 16 to 17 with comorbidities can be vaccinated against coronavirus disease (COVID-19) using the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire noted that a medical clearance is required before they get vaccinated.

"Of course, kung meron pong isang bata na 16 years old to 17 years old na meron po siyang comorbidity na kasama doon sa ating mga rekomendasyon, maari naman po siyang mabigyan. Kailangan lang na meron siyang clearance galing sa kanilang doktor (Of course, if there is a child aged 16 to 17 who has a comorbidity that is included in our recommendations, he can receive the vaccine. He just needs to have clearance from a doctor)," said Vergeire during a television interview on Tuesday, June 8.

Based on the emergency use authorization (EUA) indication of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine given by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), it “shall be administered only by vaccination providers, and used only to prevent COVID-19 in individuals ages 16 and older.”

The other COVID-19 vaccines with EUA in the Philippines are for 18 years old and above.

Meanwhile, Vergeire said that they could not yet include children in the prioritization framework of the country’s COVID-19 vaccination program------ because of limited vaccine supply.

“Base po sa ating analysis, bagama’t alam natin na ang mga kabataan ay kasama sa mga vulnerable sectors natin, pero pag tiningnan po natin yung analysis ngayon sa ating mga datos, makikita natin that children has the lowest risk of getting hospitalised, or getting severe infection of COVID-19 (Based on our analysis, although we know that young people are among our vulnerable sectors, but when we look at our current data, we can see that children have the lowest risk of getting hospitalized, or getting severe infection of COVID-19),” noted Vergeire.

“And because of the scarcity of supply currently in the country, atin muna pong itutuloy itong ating prioritization framework and pag marami na po tayong supplies, saka po sila masasama doon sa ating priorities (we will first follow our prioritization framework and when we have enough vaccine supply, then they will be included in our priorities),” she added.

Although the Philippines is receiving more vaccine supplies in the past weeks, Vergeire said it is not yet enough in vaccinating most of the country’s population.

“Hindi pa rin po ganoon kadami para masabi natin that we can already cover as much of our population. Kaya ngayon po talagang pinapatupad natin ang prioritization framework para magkaroon tayo ng rational na pagbabakuna sa ngayon because we lack supplies po (The quantity is not that sufficient for us to say that we can already cover as much of our population. Right now, we are really implementing the prioritization framework so that we can have rational vaccinations because of limited vaccine supply),” she said.

Currently, the COVID-19 vaccination rollout covers healthcare workers, senior citizens, persons with comorbidities, and essential workers.