DOH Approves Use of Sinovac’s COVID-19 Vaccine for Children Aged Six to 17

Children aged six to 17 years old can now get shots of the COVID-19 vaccine produced by Chinese biopharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech for their primary series, the Department of Health (DOH) said in a media briefing last week, Oct. 18.

Citing the Health Technology Assessment Council (HTAC), an independent advisory body created under the Universal Health Care Act, DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said the department has approved CoronaVac as an alternative to mRNA vaccines. This type of vaccine uses an inactivated form of the virus to stimulate an antibody response against COVID-19.

In March, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Sinovac’s CoronaVac emergency use authorization for children aged six to 17.

Vergeire added that the DOH has already issued guidelines for the vaccine’s rollout.

“The guidelines for the approval [of the vaccine] has been issued yesterday through a department memorandum and can now start its implementation,” Vergeire said in mixed English and Filipino.

Latest DOH figures show that 15.2 million children and adolescents have so far been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.