The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) is looking at the possibility of adding students and children in the vaccine priority list. The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Chairman J. Prospero de Vera III said on Tuesday that the IATF will discuss this matter this week.
During the press conference for the 1st National Higher Education Day, De Vera added that some countries have been looking at changing their policies regarding prioritizing the vaccination of students. This would help them resume face-to-face classes once again.
Moreover, the students’ mental wellbeing has also been a concern as many have been struggling with adjusting to the online set-up of classes.
“The mental health of students are really getting affected, and they’d like the students to be going out of their homes more frequently. The answer in other countries is to vaccinate them,” he said.
At present, Filipino students are not included in the latest vaccine priority list by the IATF. However, those in the education sector have been moved to the A4 priority list from the previous B1.
Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., National Task Force Against COVID-19 Chief, said that the government would expand the vaccination program to the youth aged 12 to 17 in the COVID-19 vaccination rollout. Most COVID vaccines with emergency use authorization (EUA) in the Philippines may only be used for adults aged 18 and above.
Currently, CHED is analyzing the first set of face-to-face classes that were allowed in the earlier months to assess whether students are safe and with no transmission.
CHED has allowed 64 higher education institutions that focus on medical and allied health programs to have limited in-person classes. Initial data showed that there was zero transmission in the first two months of classes at the University of the Philippines College of Medicine and the first month at the Our Lady of Fatima University.
“The next batch most probably is engineering, information technology, industrial technology and maritime because these are the degree programs with a lot of hands-on activities that cannot be delivered virtually. But all of that is contingent on the safety of students in the first batch,” De Vera stated.
Photo Source: Facebook/Prof Popoy De Vera