NO children aged 5 to 11 will be vaccinated against Covid19 unless their parents or guardian will give their consent, the National Task Force Against Covid19 said.

“Unfortunately, they cannot be vaccinated. It is their parents’ call if the child will be vaccinated or not,” NFT Deputy Chief Implementer Vince Dizon said.

Earlier this week, four mayors in the National Capital Region said they would only allow the inoculation of kids below 11 years old with the consent of their parents or guardians.

The Department of Health memorandum states that “in case the parent or guardian refuses to give consent to the vaccination despite the desire and willingness of the minor child to have himself/herself vaccinated or there are no persons that may legally exercise parental authority over the child, the State may act as ‘parents patriae’ and give the necessary consent.”

Meanwhile, Dizon said the government is ready to address the possible adverse effects on children.

“The only challenge for the younger age population, we have to deal with possible adverse effects and also the logistics because the doses for Pfizer are different from the doses, we use for older age group or 12 up,” he explained.

Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año agreed that parents should give their consent before their children can be vaccinated.

The government has vaccinated 9,784 kids aged 5 to 11 during the initial rollout of Covid19 vaccination last February 7.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergerie reported that only one kid experienced adverse effects after immunization.