President Duterte has green-lit the start of the vaccination of the general population, including children, against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) starting this October.

This was bared by Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque Tuesday, Sept. 28, in a virtual press conference.

"Magsisimula na po ang pagbabakuna sa general population itong buwan ng Oktubre. Ito po ay inaprubahan na ng Pangulo sang-ayon sa advice ni vaccine czar Carlito Galvez (The vaccination of the general population will start this month of October. This was approved by the President based on the advice of vaccine czar Carlito Galvez)," Roque said.

"Antayin natin yung detalye, pero yung mga A1, A2, A3, hindi naman po mawawala ang kanilang priority (Let's wait for the details, but those under A1, A2, A3 will not lose their prioritization)," he said.

A key factor in the President’s decision to allow the vaccination of the general population is the current abundance of supply for COVID-19 jabs in the country.

"Ang naging problema naman natin dati ay kakulangan ng supply. Ngayong maraming supply, eh sisimulan napo natin ang bakunahan ng general population (Our problem in the past was the scarcity of supply. Now that we have a lot of supply, we will begin the vaccination of the general population)," Roque said.

As for the inoculation of children, Roque said this will also start in October but clarified that the "master listing" of kids will be done first before the actual administering of shots.

He didn't say any details regarding the age range of children eligible for vaccination, or the brand of vaccine that will be used on the minors.

"Ang ating hinihikayat ngayon ay magpa-master listing na po ang mga magulang ng kabataan para mapalistahan na iyong mga kabataan, pag nagsimula na po tayo. Inaasahan po natin magsisimula rin tayo sa buwan ng Oktubre, aprubado na rin po yan ng ating Presidente (What we're urging right now is the master-listing of the children by their parents so that we'll have a list once we start. We also expect to begin this month of October, it has also been approved by the President).

"So pag mayroon na po tayong master list, antayin po natin ang anunsiyo kung sino ang mauuna (So once we have a master list, we'll wait for the announcement on who will be inoculated first)," the Palace official said.

The Philippines rolled out its mass vaccination program against COVID-19 on March 1, 2021.