Shadow

More than 1M Western Visayas children aged 5 to 11 eyed for Covid jabs

City PIO photo

There are more than 1 million children aged 5 to 11 years old targetted to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in Western Visayas (WV) starting February 14, Valentine’s Day, the Department of Health reported Monday, February 7.

Negros Occidental has the largest target number of children to be vaccinated 363,249, while Bacolod has 81,737.

The target set for Iloilo province is 267,470 Capiz – 102, 122, Antique – 95,437, Aklan -84,356, Iloilo City – 61,872 and Guimaras – 24,354, the DOH said.

The children aged 5 to 11 will be vaccinated with a lesser dose of Pfizer Biotech.

DOH said the number of COVID-19 cases in WV that peaked in the third week of January are now dropping. The majority of cases were asymptomatic or mild, it added.

It said 21,713 of those hit by the virus were children or 12 percent of the total COVID-19 cases in the region, with 26 percent from Negros Occidental.

The COVID vaccination of children is needed to protect them against severe disease and death, and as a safeguard for the reopening of schools, the DOH said.

The DOH in WV lowered the COVID-19 risk classification of Bacolod City to moderate, while Negros Occidental is classified as a high risk area.

Both remain under Alert Level 3.*

Secured By miniOrangeSecured By miniOrange