SENATOR Sonny Angara on Thursday urged the Food and Drug Administration to start studying the use Covid19 vaccines for children below 18.

He said that the country will not acquire herd immunity if the 30 million students are not vaccinated.

“‘Yung nasa basic education natin, mga 28 million sila. ‘Yung nasa tertiary, mga 3.4 million. If  combined, their total population would put them in the Top 50 countries. Bigger than Australia’s 25 million,” Angara said.

“Outsmarting the virus requires the vaccination of students. There will be no return to normalcy, no herd immunity if they are not vaccinated,” he added.

Greenlighting certain vaccines for school-age children will address the need of the largest population group to be protected from the coronavirus.

Gatchalian said the government should authorize certain vaccines for certain age groups.

“That is the prudent thing to do. It complies with safety protocols,” the senator stressed.

The Philippines, Angara said, can emulate United States whose FDA allowed one of its leading vaccine brands to be administered to 12 to 15-year-olds.

Singapore has also authorized the use of the same vaccine on 12 to 15-year-olds.

“This is a signal for us to commence our own independent studies on the matter,” Angara said.

In the Philippines, only those aged 18 and above are allowed to get jabs.

He said a safe coronavirus vaccine for children will be a game-changer for the country and for the economy.

“If they are last to be vaccinated, then we are creating a lost generation from the left behinds,” he added.

If vaccinating children will lead to the physical opening of schools, Angara said it will also liberate parents who have become teachers in a homeschool setting.

He said a roadmap in children’s vaccination will guide the executive and the legislative branches in preparing the budget of the Department of Education for 2022.