DAVAO CITY – The City Government of Davao is discussing the possibility of imposing some measures to restrict the movement of minors after the local authorities here noticed many parents are bringing their unvaccinated children to the malls, Mayor Sara Duterte said.
Duterte told Davao City Disaster Radio (DCDR 87.5) that authorities took up this matter during the COVID-19 Task Force in a meeting held on Monday but no decision has been reached yet.
She added that the response cluster will draft some recommendations which will be discussed again at the level of the task force.
She said that the local government is currently following the guidelines of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Diseases (IATF-MEID) for the Alert Level 2.
She said the local authorities are particularly concerned about children, aged 11 and below, who are being brought by their parents to the enclosed establishments like the malls.
She said children belonging to this age group do not have the protection against coronavirus disease from the vaccines, which are administered to minors aged 12 to 17 years old.
Comirnaty of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna are given emergency use authorization (EUA) for 12 to 17 years old.
Last week, Task Force spokesperson Dr. Michelle Schlosser reminded the parents that the children can become potential spreaders of the virus and that the threat of the pandemic continues even after the city noted a dramatic decrease in the number of confirmed cases.
She added that there is no assurance that the children could properly wear their face masks and observe physical distancing while inside the malls. Alert Level 2 does not impose restrictions on the movement of people across all age groups, according to Schlosser.
Duterte said the city has reached a total of 1,010,811 individuals jabbed with the first dose and 908,101 with the second dose or 75.7% of the target of 1.2 million to attain herd immunity.
Out of this total, 39,505 children aged 12 to 17 received the first dose and 70 for the second dose.
According to the Department of Health-Davao, Davao City reported three new cases as of November 21, bringing the total cases to 53,714 with 302 active, 51,637 recovered, and 1,775 dead.