A medical worker shows how to inject vaccine during a COVID-19 vaccination drill in Taguig city, south of Manila, Philippines. - EPA file pic
A medical worker shows how to inject vaccine during a COVID-19 vaccination drill in Taguig city, south of Manila, Philippines. - EPA file pic

COVID-19 vaccinations for the country's more than 12 million teens aged between 15 - 17-years-old began yesterday with eight pilot sites in Metro Manila.

The vaccinations for teens with comorbidities was launched at the Philippine General Hospital, Philippine Children's Medical Centre, National Children's Hospital, Fe Del Mundo Medical Centre, Pasig City Children's Hospital, Philippine Heart Centre, Makati Medical Centre and St. Luke's Medical Centre-Global City.

The adolescents were jabbed with Pfizer-BioNTech's Comirnaty vaccine and Moderna's Spikevax vaccine, which were given emergency use approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for teenagers aged 12 to 17.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said during a press briefing yesterday that the vaccines were being tried out at the pilot hospitals to assure teenagers and their parents that any adverse reaction will be addressed immediately.

The participants in the pilot should bring the required documents such as a medical certificate from the physician, the agreement of consent between the parent or guardian and the adolescent, and a valid ID of the child.

Vergeire said the DoH has no initial information on how many adolescents with comorbidities were inoculated Friday, since there is no national listing of adolescents with comorbidities.

She said the result of the pilot will determine if the government can proceed to the next phase of inoculations, which is jabbing those aged 12 to 17.

Vergeire also said that the vaccine cluster is drafting the rules for a possible third dose for immunocompromised individuals such as senior citizens, especially those who had received Sinovac or Sinopharm vaccines.

She clarified that the World Health Organization only allows a third dose for persons who did not develop an immunity after the first two doses, as differentiated from "booster doses," which need proof of waning immunity against the Covid-19.

Vergeire said the guidelines are being drafted by the National Vaccine Operations Center and the All-Experts Group on Covid-19, and will be submitted to Health Secretary Francisco Duque 3rd, who will propose them to the Inter-Agency Task Force.