San Juan completes vaccination of minors aged 12-17 years

San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora on Thursday said they have finished inoculating about 5,000 children aged 12-17 years old, making 235% of its target population already vaccinated against COVID-19.

In a television interview, Zamora said that aside from its young residents, they have also completed the vaccination non-residents who are studying in the city who registered in their vaccination program.

At present, Zamora said they are helping with the vaccination of minors aged 12-17 from other areas.

“We are just waiting for the announcement, hopefully in the next few months, for the vaccination of those below 11 years old because this has already been done in the United States,” Zamora told ANC.

San Juan has also started administering booster shots of their healthcare workers, with around 400 inoculated on Wednesday.

Zamora said there are 1,200 medical frontliners working in the city and 3,000 from the Cardinal Santos Medical Center.

“I’m optimistic [that] by the end of next week, we should be done with all of them,” he said.

Kids at malls

In the same interview, Zamora said the Metro Manila Council will meet on Thursday evening to discuss the recommendations of the technical working group regarding allowing children in malls.

President Rodrigo Duterte has tasked local government units (LGUs) to pass ordinances that would restrict children below 12 years old from going to malls to avoid COVID-19 exposure.

“Whatever it is, it is my wish that Metro Manila will have a common and united policy. We cannot have separate guidelines for each LGUs because if each others are too stringent and others are too loose, the children will simply go to malls in LGUs that have looser restrictions and that would be very difficult for us to execute as mayors,” Zamora said.

He reminded that should minors be allowed in open areas, they should only stay with their families and not mingle with other people to avoid risk of infection.

All these protocols will however be deferred to the decision of the medical experts, Zamora said.

“Honestly, I also don’t want to restrict everyone just like that because it’s also the Christmas season. We also have to consider people wanting to be together during the holidays after a long 1 year and 8-month lockdown, specifically  for children,” Zamora added.

Metro Manila is under Alert Level 2 until November 30. Under this alert level, minors are allowed in leisure places as long as they are accompanied by fully vaccinated adults or guardians.

Also under this alert level status, indoor establishments can operate at 50% capacity with an additional 10% capacity if they have a safety seal. For outdoor establishments, 70% capacity is allowed. —KBK, GMA News