The vaccination of children 5-11 years old is an integral part of the resumption of the face-to-face classes in the country, vaccine czar Sec. Carlito G. Galvez, Jr. said.

Galvez, who is also the chief implementer of the National Task Force (NTF) against COVID-19, said a discussion was already made between Education Secretary Leonor Briones and the Inter-Agency Task Force of the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID) wherein there was a consensus that only vaccinated students would be allowed to attend face-to-face classes.

"Vaccinating students and other members of the academic community, including teachers and school personnel, will ensure their safety when schools finally reopen," said Galvez during the vaccination of children aged 5 to 11 held at the Malolos Bulacan Convention Center.

The national government has started inoculating 5-11 years old kids on Feb. 7 but a lot of parents are still hesitant on having their kids vaccinated for possible adverse effects.

Galvez, however, assured that the vaccine is safe, saying over 8.7 million children have already been vaccinated worldwide and there have been no reported deaths attributable to the vaccines.

Galvez also stressed the need for the national government to impose a “strong mandate” on vaccination in the future once the majority of children are vaccinated and the country already has a bigger supply inventory of the COVID-19 jabs.

On Tuesday, Feb. 8, Briones expressed her full support for the ‘Resbakuna Kids’ program which is in line with the efforts of the DepEd to expand face-to-face classes.

“We cannot move to new forms, to new ways of teaching unless our children are safe, unless they are healthy, unless they are also happy with the learning experience,” Briones said.

According to the data of National Vaccination Operations Center as of February 9, 12:00 PM, 26,363 children aged 5 to 11 nationwide had been vaccinated with a first dose of COVID-19 vaccine in 40 vaccination sites.