The City Health Services Office reported that as of November 11, there are 16,784 children aged 12 to 17 years old inoculated with the first dose of Pfizer – after only eight days of rolling the vaccination of the younger population as protection against the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Dr. Rowena Galpo, head of the CHSO said inoculation of the said age group started November 3 with an average daily jab of 2,500 for the first five days.
Of the 16,784 individuals with at least one dose as of November 11, there are 2,504 with comorbidities while 14,280 belong to the rest of the pediatric population aged 12 to 17 group.
The total number of vaccinees comprise 36.7 percent of the eligible population of 42,811 projected by the Department of Health.
“If we target 80 percent vaccination coverage as set by DOH and assuming that we will maintain an average of 2,500 first dose jabs per day, then we will be able to reach the target in 14 vaccination days or by Nov. 20,” Galpo said during the management committee meeting of city department heads on Tuesday, November 8.
She explained that if the target vaccination for the pediatric population is 100 percent, this can be achieved in 17 vaccination days or by Nov. 24.
However, the CHSO and the risk communication teams of the city needs to reach out to parents and guardians to allow their children to be vaccinated since out of the 42,811 pediatric population only more than 23,000 have registered in the bakuna.baguio.gov.ph website for vaccination. – Jessa P. Samidan
