The Department of Education (DepEd) has reiterated its strong support for pediatric vaccination as the government started vaccinating children aged five to 11 on Monday, Feb. 7.
DepEd Bureau of Learner Support Services School Health Division Chief Dr. Maria Corazon C. Dumlao, in a virtual presser last week, said that the agency strongly supports vaccination of the younger population against coronavirus disease (COVID-19) because it is a very crucial factor in the DepEd’s efforts for the resumption of face-to-face classes.
To support the government’s pediatric vaccination drive, Dumlao said that DepEd has allowed the use of schools as vaccination sites.
Dumlao explained that the processes and requirements for the use of schools as vaccination sites have been more “relaxed.”
She added that all schools that are qualified to be used as vaccination sites were “enjoined to cooperate and coordinate” with their respective Local Government Units (LGUs).
Dumlao added that DepEd also ramped up its efforts to “enjoin more health and other personnel to volunteer for the vaccination of the pediatric population.
“All personnel who have volunteered/have been volunteering in local vaccination activities are highly encouraged to volunteer again/continue volunteering for pediatric vaccination,” she added.
Those who are concerned, Dumlao said, shall also ensure that “volunteering personnel is provided with the support” as enumerated DepEd Memorandum (DM) No. 28 s. 2021
Dumlao also assured that DepEd will “actively support” promotion activities related to pediatric vaccination in line with its “Vacc2School Campaign.”
Launched in May 2021, the “Vacc2School: Ligtas na Bakuna, Para sa Balik-Eskwela!” campaign aims to inform, educate, and engage its teaching, non-teaching personnel, and other stakeholders in promoting the vaccination drive and other related policies to mitigate COVID-19.
DepEd said that the campaign was also contextualized to support the “BIDA Solusyon Plus sa COVID-19” campaign of the Department of Health (DOH) in the education sector.
Meanwhile, Dumlao said that DepEd also continues to monitor the vaccination status of students aged 12 to 17.
Citing its latest data, Dumlao said that 76 percent or 8,736,714 students aged 12 to 17 without comorbidities have already received COVID-19 vaccines.
Of that total, Dumlao said that 64 percent or 7,342,978 students are fully vaccinated while 12.16 percent or 1,393,736 have received single vaccine shots.
Dumlao explained that there are 1,273,976 students aged 12 to 17 years old with comorbidities. The rest of the pediatric population stands at 11,465,786.
Out of 1,273,976 students aged 12 to 17 with comorbidities, Dumlao said that only 23.33 percent or 297,191 have received vaccines wherein 205,234 are fully vaccinated while 91,957 only received a single dose.
Dumlao said that there are 15,564,305 students aged five to 11 eyed for pediatric vaccination of the younger population.
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