The vaccination against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) of children aged five to 11 years old will officially kick off on February 4.

Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. announced that a series of consultations and trainings in the barangays will be led by the Department of Health (DOH) from January 24 to 28 while the first batch of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine (children’s solution) will arrive “next week” ahead of the planned roll out.

“We are ready to implement the vaccination for five to 11 years old next week,” Galvez told President Duterte in a televised Cabinet meeting on Monday night, Jan. 24.

“Iyong ating memorandum guidance ay lalabas po ngayong week at ‘yong ating town hall meetings na pamumunuan po ng DOH and series of trainings ay tuloy-tuloy ngayong week, from January 24 to 28. Darating po next week ang mga supply at puwede na po tayong mag-roll out by February 4 next Friday (Our memorandum guidance will be released this week and our town hall meetings to be led by DOH and series of trainings will be conducted this week, from January 24 to 28. Next week, the vaccine supply will arrive and we can already roll out by February 4 next Friday),” he added.

Meanwhile, the capacity building of vaccination teams, site preparation, and final site inspections of vaccination sites will be simultaneously held from Jan. 25 to 31.

For this roll out, the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19 will open both hospital and non-hospital vaccination sites in Metro Manila before it is expanded to other regions after one week.

There will be two vaccination sites in each of the 16 cities and one municipality in the NCR, Galvez said.

“Ito po ang concept natin for our rollout, katulad din po ng ginawa natin noong nag-open po tayo ng 12 to 17 years old. Pero ngayon, mas prepared po tayo at mas experienced (This is the same concept that we used in the roll out of the of 12 to 17 years old),” he noted.

Prior to this, the government conducted a live orientation for the vaccination of the said age bracket earlier this month which was hosted by the United States Embassy in Manila. Similar orientations and follow ups were also held in other regions.

“Makaka-assure po tayo, Mr. President, sa ating mga magulang na very safe ang ating gagamitin na bakuna dahil ito ay mas mababa ang formulation na angkop para sa mga bata (Our parents can be assured, Mr. President, that the vaccines that we will are very safe because it uses lower formulation which is suitable for the use of children),” Galvez said.

The NTF has aggressively pursued the vaccination of children aged 5 to11 years old to enable the safe expansion of face-to-face classes in February.