VACCINATION CAMPAIGN | DOH eyes 95% vaccination rate for children in 2-3 years

March 25, 2024 , 08:48 PM

By Clarist Zablan

(March 25, 2024) – Public health authorities aim to raise the vaccination rate of Filipino children to 95% within two or three years, a health department spokesman said on Monday as parts of the country declared outbreaks of measles and whooping cough.

Undersecretary Eric Tayag said the vaccination campaign to protect Filipino infants and children from potentially deadly infections is part of the flagship priority program of the department.

Vaccination rates for Filipino children currently stands at 72%, he said.

“Ang gusto nga ngayong taon, pero syempre mahihirapan tayo,” Tayag said in a televised briefing aired on state-owned PTV. “May mga outbreaks na nga. At tinitingnan namin, sa dalawa o tatlong taon, baka kayanin po natin yan.”

The campaign to raise the vaccination rate includes maintaining sufficient supply of vaccines, ensuring that all local government units (LGUs) have planned out their catch-up immunization drives, educating the public on the benefits of vaccination, and coordination with other agencies and civil society groups, he said.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), in a report released last year, said the Philippines has as many as 1 million “zero-dose” children, the fifth highest number of unvaccinated children in the world and the second highest in the East Asia and the Pacific region.

The Department of Health (DOH) believed the low vaccination rate of children may have been caused by a rise in vaccine hesitancy due to the Dengvaxia controversy, Tayag said in an earlier news forum.

Many parents were also uncertain or constrained from having their children vaccinated at the height of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, which prompted some countries such as the Philippines to impose lockdowns in the past, he said.

Moreover, many local health workers had to focus on administering COVID-19 vaccines, which caused the vaccination campaigns against other infections to lag behind, Tayag said.

“Ngayon, tayo, parang naglalagari para ibalik ang sigla sa pagbabakuna. Kaya nagka-catch up immunization kami para nang sa ganoon, ‘yung mga batang namiss ang kanilang schedule noong panahon ng (COVID-19) pandemic, ay mabigyan at makumpleto ang bakunang kailangan nila,” Tayag said.

The health department registered 2,600 cases of measles or “tigdas” across the country since September last year, of which at least 1,400 were recorded in the Bangsamoro region.

On pertussis, the department logged 453 cases during the first ten weeks of this year. There were 35 patients who died from the infections.

Some parts of the country, including Quezon City and Iloilo City, have declared an outbreak of pertussis or whooping cough.

The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) also declared a measles outbreak across the region.

(MM)

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