The administration of a COVID-19 booster shot for children aged 12 to 17 is still being studied by health experts, the Department of Health (DOH) said.
DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that there is still not enough evidence that children under this age group need booster doses of COVID-19 vaccine.
"Well, hanggang sa ngayon patuloy ho ang pag-aaral at pag-uusap ng ating mga eksperto ukol dito kasi globally naman po wala pa talagang sapat na ebidensya para sa pangangailangan na bigyan ng booster ang ating 12 to 17 (until now, our experts continue to study this because globally, there is not enough evidence that there is a need to provide a booster shot for those aged 12 to 17),” said Vergeire on Saturday, Feb. 19.
"Pinag-aaralan pa rin po ng international experts ito pong safety at saka ‘yung maibibigay na effectiveness ng bakunang ito (International experts are still studying the safety and effectiveness of the vaccines)," she added.
If the country's health experts approved the said measure, Vergeire said that the government has enough funds to procure the needed vaccines.
"Ang pamahalaan po natin nakahanda po tayo (Our government is ready) once completed evidence is available. Mayroon na ho tayong nakalaan na budget at saka mayroon na tayong (We already have a budget and then we have) negotiations for that if ever," she said.
Vergeire said that 9.4 million children aged 12 to 17 in the country already received either the first dose or have already completed the primary series.
There are around 12.7 million children aged 12 to 17 in the Philippines, the DOH previously said.
Only the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines are being administered for the said group.
In a related development, more than 300,000 kids aged five to 11-years-old received their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine made by Pfizer-BioNTech.
"Para po dun sa five to 11-years-old natin na children, we already have 395,000 na mga kabataan na nabigyan na po natin ng initial dose or one dose natin (For children aged five to 11-year-old, we already have 395,000 young people who have been given the initial dose or first dose),” she added.