DOH creating guidelines for using Sinovac COVID-19 for children six years and above
The Department of Health (DOH) is creating guidelines for the use of the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine for pediatric vaccination.
During the ''Laging Handa'' virtual public briefing, Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje said the emergency use authorization (EUA) of Sinovac for six years old and above was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on March 11.
"Right now, we are creating the implementing guidelines with inputs from our experts, we will use that for six years old and above," she said.
"We have to look at it carefully because the EUA of Sinovac is for healthy individuals, healthy children so maybe it cannot be used for children with comorbidities. So, that is what we are discussing and finalizing, the guidelines together with our experts," she added.
Cabotaje added that unlike the pediatric vaccine of Pfizer which has reformulated doses, the Sinovac doses that will be used for children are the same doses used for adults.
"We do not need to buy additional Sinovac. We have enough in stock. We are just arranging the messaging so that the people would understand why the doses for adult and children in Sinovac are the same unlike the Pfizer . It should be properly explained by our experts and our health workers," she said.
She said despite the approval of EUA of Sinovac vaccines for pediatric use, the DOH will not reduce the government's purchase of reformulated Pfizer vaccines.
"We only order a small number of Pfizer doses, we have 15.5 million children according to the PSA for five to eleven, we only ordered 15 million. So, it means that for 7 million children because it requires two doses , then we might consider an additional 5 million," she said.
"So it will be around 20 million that will cover about 10 million children with two doses. The Sinovac will also provide additional quantities for the children and their parents who may not want to use the Pfizer and they use the Sinovac. So, we are not cutting down because... we didn’t order for the entire 15.5 million children," she added. Robina Asido/DMS
