The National Vaccination Operations Center (NVOC) recorded an adverse event following immunization (AEFI) during the vaccine rollout for kids 5-11 years old held yesterday.
During the Laging Handa public briefing, NVOC chairperson and Department of Health (DOH) Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje said that the adverse event affected an 11-year-old boy from Paranaque City who experienced inflammation of the arm and hand after vaccination.
However, Cabotaje said the inflammation and rashes disappeared after a while.
According to Cabotaje, this is just a lone incident out of the total 9,784 children from this age group who were vaccinated.
Aside from this, there were no other incidents recorded on the first day of the Resbakuna for Kids campaign.
Cabotaje also emphasized that based on studies conducted using the Pfizer vaccines in this age group in 33 countries around the world, the vaccine showed 90.7-percent efficacy against COVID-19.
The six other countries, on the other hand, used a different vaccine brand.
Meanwhile, Cabotaje still cannot say the exact date when they will be able to finish vaccinating the target 15.5 million children in this age group.
She said this will depend on the supply of Pfizer vaccines.
However, Cabotaje is expecting to finish vaccinating the more than 15 million kids by the end of the first quarter of this year.
She added that the procurement of an additional 15 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine is already in the pipeline for the 5-11 year-olds’ second dose.