WHILE stressing that it welcomes global developments and insights on the vaccination of minors against Covid-19, the Department of Education (DepEd) on Tuesday said it would have to defer to the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases and Department of Health (DOH).
“As the government starts the inoculation of economic frontliners, including teachers and non-teaching personnel, the Department of Education welcomes various global developments and insights on the vaccination of minors against Covid-19,” the DepEd said.
DepEd added that they are currently focused on supporting the National Deployment and Vaccination Plan (NDVP) and encouraging teachers and personnel to get vaccinated in preparation for the eventual implementation of limited face-to-face classes in low-risk areas.
“Should the President and the IATF allow limited face-to-face classes based on the gains of our Covid-19 mitigation efforts, DepEd shall still employ stringent conditions and safety protocols in our field offices and schools that will participate in the pilot implementation of face-to-face classes,” DepEd added.
As the DepEd looks forward to return to the “new normal,” they urged everyone to continue cooperating with the government’s vaccination program and other Covid-19 mitigation efforts for the protection of children, families, and communities.
Earlier, DOH announced that the Food and Drug Administration has granted the request for revision of the issued emergency use authorization to Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 Vaccine to include individuals 12 years and older in its indication for active immunization for the prevention of the disease.
However, Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III said that for now, the government still doesn’t have enough supply of Covid-19 vaccines to start the inoculation of minors.
“But I must clarify that since we still lack [doses] of vaccines and they are not part of the high-risk group, we still cannot include them [in our vaccination drive],” he said in a television interview.
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