Pediatric vaccination is safe, says health official

She said  the vaccines are for the protection of children from diseases. "Prevention is still better than cure. It will not be approved if it is not safe," she said.

"The experts have studied this well and the vaccine does not cause harm to people,” Schlosser said.

Schlosser added that the approval and release of the vaccines for the pediatric population 5-11 years old took time because of the tedious study undertaken by experts.

"It took almost one year or a year before we used it because it went through a tedious and strict experiment to study if it is safe for people,”

she said.

The city on February 21 has started its vaccination drive of children 5-11 years old in three sites including Almendras Gym, Vicente Hizon Central Elementary School, and San Roque Elementary School.

The sites are open for walk-ins but parents or guardians must bring a Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) copy of the birth certificate or valid student ID of the child, valid ID of the parents or guardian, Safe Davao QR of the child, and a pen.

Schlosser, earlier said that three special sites can accommodate as many eligible children as possible with the number of available vaccines.

Schlosser added that they aim to consume all the allotted vaccines to the eligible children 5-11 age group. Parents and children are welcome at the special sites for as long as they bring the requirements.

Schlosser said the city government has identified these sites to avoid confusion and misdosing if the vaccination for the 5-11 age group is mixed with other public vaccination sites.

She added that the city plans to put up more sites for the 5-11 age group after the successful rollout of the pilot test for pediatric vaccination in the hospitals. 

The targeted additional sites are F. Dizon Elementary School and Abreeza for District 1, SM Lanang for District 2, GMall Toril, and Holy Cross of Calinan for District 3.

The city aims to vaccinate up to 250,000 in the 5-11 age group.