SENATOR Francis  ‘Kiko’ Pangilinan sought the inclusion of older children in the vaccination program of the government against Covid-19.

“Sa gabay ng mga eksperto, posible kayang mabakunahan na rin ang ating mga kabataan 12 to 15 years old?” Pangilinan asked.

“Dahil na rin mas nakakahawa ang Delta variant, hindi sapat ang lockdown lang. Kailangan ng ayuda. Kailangan ng testing. Kailangan ng mas maraming bakuna,” he added.

The Department of Health said the Food and Drug Administration on May 28 amended the emergency use authorization of Pfizer to include the 12-15 age group, based on the recommendation of a vaccine experts panel.

The original EUA issued to Pfizer indicated its use for those 16 years and older.

“Masaya tayong nakapagbakuna tayo ng higit 673,000 sa isang araw noong Martes. Ipagpatuloy lang natin ang ganitong pagpapabakuna. Itaas din ang bilang ng testing at contact-tracing, at sisiguruhin nating magdadagdag ng suporta sa ating healthcare system,” Pangilinan said.

Meanwhile, the senator is also pushing for a budget increase for the Philippine General Hospital — the country’s premier Covid referral center — in the upcoming 2022 budget deliberations.

“Nakababahala na nagkakaubusan na muli ng ICU beds lalo na ngayon pati mga bata ay sobrang naapektuhan na ng Covid. Malinaw na kailangan pa ng dagdag na suporta ng PGH at iba pang mga ospital,” he said.

The PGH on Tuesday registered a full capacity of its Covid19 intensive care units for children.

The hospital has only 8 allocated beds for pediatric Covid19 patients.

“Ang budget lamang ng PGH para sa taong ito ay P6.87 billion. On top of being a Covid referral center, siyempre nariyan pa rin ang daily operations ng ospital. If we aim to reform our healthcare system, we should start by giving more budget to where it is needed the most — lalo na kung buhay ng ating mga kabataan ang nakataya,” Pangilinan said.

The budget of the PGH is under the appropriations for the University of the Philippines System.

For 2021, it saw a budget increase of P2.9 billion from its P4 billion budget in 2020. Its budget for 2018 and 2019 were only P3 billion and P3.2 billion, respectively.