Senator Sonny Angara urged the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to begin studying the vaccination of persons under 18 years old.
Angara made the call citing that FDAs in other countries such as Singapore and the United States allowed vaccination of minors.
“This is a signal for us to commence our own independent studies on the matter,” Angara said.
Initially, the US only approved the inoculation of aged 16 to 85 years old.
The senator said allowing the use of certain vaccines to specific age groups is the “prudent thing to do.”
“Yung nasa basic education natin, mga 28 million sila. Yung nasa tertiary, mga 3.4 million. If combined, their total population would put them in the Top 50 countries. Bigger than Australia’s 25 million,” Angara pointed out.
(In basic education schools alone, there are 28 million Filipinos while those in the tertiary is at 3.4 million. If combined, their total population would put them in the Top 50 countries. That is bigger than Australia’s 25 million.)
He noted that vaccinating school-age children would protect the “largest population group” from the virus.
Angara urges FDA to study vaccination of minors
“Outsmarting the virus requires the vaccination of students. There will be no return to normalcy, no herd immunity if they are not vaccinated,” he said.
Angara added inoculating the younger age group would be a game-changer for the country as well as the economy.
Children are “barely able to learn under a distance learning setup crippled by poor broadband and lack of digital handsets,” Angara said.
“If they are last to be vaccinated, then we are creating a lost generation from the left-behinds,” he pointed out.
Vaccinating the children will facilitate the return of face-to-face classes, Angara said.
Angara, who is also the Senate finance committee chairman, noted that the budget for the children’s vaccine is lower than the cost of modules and internet services.
He also recommended a roadmap for children’s vaccination ahead of the Department of Education’s budget preparation.
Currently, the government is vaccinating Filipinos 18 years old and above.
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