THE FOOD and Drug Administration of the Philippines on Friday approved the emergency use of Moderna Covid19 vaccine on children aged 12 to 17.

FDA chief Eric Domingo said the presence of the Delta variant prompted vaccine experts to approve Moderna’s application to cover adolescents.

“After a thorough evaluation by our vaccine experts and our regulatory experts sa FDA, in-approve na namin ngayong araw na ito ang paggamit under emergency use authorization ng Moderna vaccines for adolescents aged 12 to 17,” Domingo said.

He said that the benefits from using the vaccine outweighs the risk. There had been reports of rare cases of myocarditis or the inflammation of the heart muscle as a side effect of the Moderna vaccine.

Domingo stressed such cases are one in a million and more prevalent in younger males.

“With the Delta variant affecting a lot of children, our experts saw that the benefit of using the vaccine outweighs the risk,” he said.

However, the order to vaccinate children will come from the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases and the Department of Health.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III earlier said that children with comorbidities may be included in the priority group of the government’s Covid19 vaccination program.

Moderna is the second Covid19 vaccine to be given approval for use on minors. The FDA earlier allowed the use of the Pfizer vaccine for 12 to 17 year-olds.