THE GOVERNMENT plans to inoculate 90 percent of the student population against the coronavirus disease to ensure their protection during the conduct of face-to-face classes., vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said.

This will enable more students to return to schools next year, Galvez said.

“Gusto talaga naming mabuo ‘yung aming plano na at least 90% po sa ating mga estudyante ay talagang mabakunahan para at least wala tayong problema sa face-to-face,” he said.

The Department of Education earlier reported that 25,668 public schools or 56.89 percent of the total number of schools have started holding physical classes.

However, only about five percent of all private schools are doing in-person classes.

Galvez said that the vaccination of minors aged 12 to 17 went smoothly and there are even requests from students and parents to include them in the coverage of second booster shots.

The country’s vaccine expert panel earlier recommended booster shots for minors aged 12 to 17.

Data from the Department of Health showed that about 11.4 million minors have been fully vaccinated against Covid 19 while some 2.5 million children aged 5 to 11 old have also been immunized.

The government aims to vaccinate more than 39 million youngsters aged 17 and below.