MANILA - The government will start administrating formulated Covid-19 vaccine to children aged 5 to 11 years old by February 4, National Task Force (NTF) Against Covid-19 chief implementer, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., said Monday night.

"We are already prepared in the vaccination of 5 to 11 years old," Galvez, also the vaccine czar, reported during President Rodrigo Duterte's prerecorded Talk to the People.

Galvez said the government will issue the memorandum guidance this week, with town hall meetings to be conducted from January 24 to 28, for the rollout of the pediatric vaccination under the 5-11 years old age bracket.

The formulated low-dosing Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine to be used for the younger population will tentatively arrive on February 2, he added.

Galvez said the pediatric vaccination for this age bracket will be rolled out in two phases.

A pilot run will be conducted in one hospital-based and one local government unit (LGU)-based vaccination site per city, within the National Capital Region (NCR), for the first phase.

After a week, it will be expanded to the rest of Metro Manila's inoculation sites and other regions, for the second phase.

"We will open the hospital and non-hospital vaccination site and we will expand the sites further to other regions after one week. Again, we will open our vaccination rollout on February 4," Galvez said.

The latest data from the NTF showed that 7,246,430 adolescents, or children aged 12 to 17 years, are now fully protected against the disease.

The government expects to vaccinate more than 39.41 million aged from zero to 17 years old. (PNA)