Vaccinating children should be a priority

The Department of Health (DOH) has announced that the COVID-19 vaccination of minors aged 12-17 with comorbidities will roll out to all local government units in Metro Manila this week—but only one hospital per LGU. The vaccination for minors had been slow. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had approved Pfizer for emergency use authorization (EUA) for children aged 12-15 as far back as June, and Moderna had been approved for 12-17 years old in September. It was only last week that they started vaccination, but only for eight hospitals, and this week they will expand to one hospital per LGU. In the meantime, the Department of Education (DepEd) is set to pilot face-to-face classes in 120 schools in November—and most of these students will probably still be unvaccinated by the time they start. The pieces are there, but they refuse to put them together.

I’ve long advocated for children’s right to play, to exercise, to be outdoors, and to socialize with their peers. The policies during the pandemic have put these rights as last priority as “locking people down” seems to be the overriding public health strategy. For a long time, parks and playgrounds were closed, despite these outdoor spaces being safer than indoor malls. Schools went completely online and the whole culture of school was reduced to classes and school work—gone were the social spaces created by lunch break and recess, by cafeteria, gyms, and playgrounds. I understand that the intention is to keep children physically safe—but they have completely forgotten that children also need to thrive.

What has kept children unable to go out and join their adult family members is their vaccination status. A lot of establishments and activities have now made vaccination a precondition. We are still strongly encouraged to stay home when we can regardless of vaccination status. But being vaccinated does give us options. And having this option is what makes this an issue of rights. When the vaccinated are afforded certain benefits and you are forbidden from doing so, thus depriving you of those benefits, that is an injustice.

I understand that there are limited resources and certain groups need to be prioritized. I also understand that DOH has been intentionally slow and wary with the rollout for minors due to their Dengvaxia experience, the aftermath of which had already exacerbated vaccine hesitancy in the country—and has caused DOH to hesitate as well. With a pandemic, speed is of the essence. I hope that DOH is including in its calculation the cost of preventable illness and death they are amassing with each day of delay. With the FDA’s approval of Pfizer for children in June, it shouldn’t have taken us this long to start immunizing children. They are so concerned with pursuing senior citizens who refuse to get vaccinated that they don’t realize that immunizing everyone else in the household will still protect our lolos and lolas who have opted out—and that we can always prioritize them the moment they’re ready to be vaccinated.

If you really want to do phased vaccinations, then start with people ages 15-17; 17-year-olds hold the cruel curse of being at the edge of an arbitrary age bracket. All pediatricians and child psychologists know that a 17-year-old is not developmentally any different than an 18-year-old, especially given individual differences. With an approved vaccine—and having the benefit of observing other countries’ vaccination of minors and thereby learning from their experience—we should have no scientific reason to withhold vaccines from them.

With vaccines approved for children as early as June, DepEd should have ensured that the students joining their pilot run of face-to-face classes be given the opportunity to be vaccinated alongside their teachers. DepEd, it is not too late—if you offer vaccinations now, they can be protected by November. I more than understand the value of returning to face-to-face classes; I just want it done as safely as possible. And we have the resources to do it. So why not make use of it?

Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said that they have the capacity to vaccinate the 12 million minors aged 12-17. The Philippine Statistics Authority reported that there are 21 million Filipinos aged 10-19, comprising about one-fifth of our population. We need to allow the vaccination of minors in order to achieve herd immunity. Households with children can only be completely protected if their kids can get vaccinated too. Vaccinating minors does not only protect them, it also protects their family and our community.

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