Gov't to set aside Covid-19 jabs for teachers, students

MANILA – The government will set aside Covid-19 vaccines for the inoculation of all teachers and other education support personnel in preparation for the opening of limited face-to-face classes in the country, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., chief implementer of the National Task Force (NTF) against Covid-19, said on Wednesday.

Galvez, also the vaccine czar, said the government, in close coordination with the Department of Education (DepEd), will be ramping up the inoculation of the teaching personnel by August.

"Nakapriority po yan at ano po namin is mauubos po sila this coming August. Ipa-priority po namin yan, mag-allocate po kami separately for DepEd (That has been prioritized and we plan to inoculate all of them this coming August. We will be prioritizing that by separately allocating vaccines to DepEd)," Galvez said during the House committee on health hearing on the Covid-19 situation in the country.

He noted that the task force is now working on the provision of Covid-19 vaccines to all those teaching personnel and DepEd staff, along with those who are set to serve and attend the opening of limited face-to-face classes, particularly in medical fields.

"In fact, lahat po ng mga nag-iintern ngayon pati po 'yug mga nagkakaroon ng examination ay isinasama na po natin sa vaccination (In fact, those who are attending internship and those are having examinations are already included in the vaccination)," he said.

Meanwhile, Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje noted that the students who will be attending limited face-to-face classes are also part of the government's prioritization framework in the national Covid-19 vaccination program.

Cabotaje said the vaccination of students will be done in a "phased manner."

"Pero kagaya po ng sabi, ang problema pa rin po natin (As what has been said, our problem) is the limited availability of the vaccines (As what has been said, the problem remains to be the limited availability of the vaccines),” she said.

She said the DOH is closely coordinating with the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to analyze the vaccination scheme for the students "because as of now we will not be able to meet all the demands."

Meanwhile, Galvez said the task force is still waiting for advice from the Interim National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (NITAG) for Covid-19 and the Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) on when to start the pediatric vaccination.

"Inaantay lang po namin yung directive ng ating NITAG at ng STAC kung kailan po tayo pwedeng magbakuna ng mga 12 years and below so that we can also prioritize yung mga students po na magkakaroon ng face-to-face classes (We are just waiting for a directive from NITAG and STAC to when we can start vaccinating 12 years old and below so that we can also prioritize who will be having face-to-face classes)," he said.

The government is doing its best to acquire a sufficient supply of vaccines so it could further expand the vaccination drive to children, he added.

"So nakaplano po yun and most likely by end of August makikita po natin 'yun ating supply kung magkakaroon po tayo enough supply by September, in order to have yung face-to-face, magkakaroon po tayo ng initial phasing dun sa mga estudyante na magkakaroon po ng face-to-face, lalo na po yung CHED at yung mag-iintern as health professionals (We planned it already and most likely by end of August, we must have enough supply in September in order to have face-to-face, we will be having an initial phasing for the students who will be attending limited face-to-face classes, especially for CHED and those health professional interns)," he said.

He said the government will provide a "special allocation" of vaccines to DepEd and CHED in support of the resumption of face-to-face classes in the country.

The government earlier eyed about 29 million doses for pediatric vaccination using the CoronaVac, Pfizer-BioNTech, and Moderna jabs. (PNA)