QUEZON CITY -- The government’s vaccination program against COVID-19 for minors aged 12-17 with risk factors or co-morbidities has been expanded to LGU hospitals in the National Capital Region, according to the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

DILG Undersecretary and Spokesperson Jonathan Malaya said that the expansion of the vaccination program under Phase 2 involves an additional 17 hospitals following the original 8 national hospitals where Phase 1 of the pediatric vaccination began last October 15.

“Given the success of the first phase of the vaccination program where there was insignificant adverse effect among the 4,640 minors vaccinated, we decided to expand the vaccination program to more LGU hospitals so that more minors can benefit from it,” he said.

Malaya joined Usec Roger Tong-an of the Department of Health (DOH), Dr. Gloria Balboa of Metro Manila Center for Health Development (MM-CHD), Dr. Ted Herbosa and Dr. Paz Corales of the National Task Force-Covid 19 and Mayors Francis Zamora, Edwin Olivarez, and Joy Belmonte in the ceremonial vaccination of minors in select hospitals in the region.

Ceremonial vaccinations were held in Cardinal Santos Medical Center for San Juan residents, Ospital ng Parañaque for Parañaque residents, and Quezon City General Hospital for QC residents attended by these officials.

“We are holding the vaccinations initially in hospitals so that the vaccination for minors will be closely monitored by medical staff in order to detect adverse events, if any, following immunization to ensure their safety. If there are adverse effects, they can immediately be attended to since they are already in the hospital or in a vaccination site near a hospital,” said Malaya.

He said that the 18 additional hospitals now doing pediatric vaccinations are Caloocan City Medical Center (North and South), Ospital ng Malabon, Navotas City Hospital, Valenzuela City Emergency Hospital, Marikina Sports Complex which is near Amang Rodriguez Memorial Medical Center, Quezon City General Hospital, St. Luke’s Medical Center Quezon City, Ospital ng Maynila, Ospital ng Makati, SM Megamall Mega Vaccination Site which is near Mandaluyong City Medical Center, Cardinal Santos Medical Center, Ospital ng Muntinlupa, Ospital ng Parañaque 1, University of Perpetual Help System Dalta, Pasay City General Hospital and St. Luke’s Medical Center – Global City to cater to the Municipality of Pateros.

He said that they expect to expand the pediatric vaccination to regular vaccination sites outside of hospitals and to the regions by next month.

Malaya said that Phase 2 of the pediatric vaccination is a big step towards reaching population protection. “Under Oplan Vax to Max, we aim to increase our daily vaccination rate from 500,000 jabs a day to 1-1.5 million jabs a day. With 38 million doses now available and more coming in the future, this is achievable with the help of the LGUs,” he added.

In the NCR, 9.1 million or 93.3% have received the first dose while 7.9M or 81.4% have received a second dose or fully vaccinated for a total of 17 million doses administered. Nationwide, 28.9M or 37.5% have received the first dose while 24.8M or 32.25% are fully vaccinated. 53.8M doses have been administered since the start of the national vaccination program.

“Our LGUs have proven that they increase the jab rate if supply is available. Now that supply has stabilized, we have increased our jab targets. It’s doable,” he added. (DILG)