As the government announced its plan to vaccinate minors, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Saturday, June 5, underscored the importance of boosting the confidence of parents and guardians in COVID-19 vaccines.

"If vaccine hesitancy persists among adults, especially among parents and guardians, minors might also be dissuaded from receiving the COVID-19 vaccine," Gatchalian said in a statement.

"This in turn would compromise public confidence on the resumption of limited face-to-face classes and the safe reopening of schools," added the senator, who chairs the Senate basic education committee.

National Task Force Against COVID-19 chief implementer and vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. earlier announced that they are looking to start including 12 to 17 year olds in the government's vaccination program by September or October.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had said that it will be allowing the use of Pfizer's vaccines on children aged 12 to 15. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is already being rolled out in the United States for minors aged 12-15.

Gatchalian, however, said, that addressing vaccine hesitancy among adults remains critical to the vaccination of minors.

He cited a survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) which revealed in May that only 32 percent of Filipino adults are willing to get vaccinated against COVID-19, while 35 percent are uncertain and 33 percent are unwilling.

The senator said the Department of Education (DepEd) could start reaching out to parents and mobilizing Parent-Teacher Associations (PTA) to inform parents on how the COVID-19 vaccines prevent severe disease, hospitalization, and death.

"Mahalagang matugunan natin ang pangamba ng mga magulang upang mapabakunahan ang kanilang mga anak at matiyak nating magiging ligtas ang muling pagbubukas ng ating mga paaralan (It's important that we address the fear of parents so they would have their children vaccinated and ensure that the reopening of schools will be safe)," Gatchalian appealed.