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Sunday, November 13, 2005
Baguio City continues anti-meningococcemia vaccination
BAGUIO CITY -- The City Health Officer Florence Reyes advised Saturday Baguio residents to bring their children aged two and eight to the nearest health centers to avail the free anti-meningococcemia vaccination.
This is part of the city's mass immunization program against meningococcemia infections, which started last October 24 and will run until November 18.
The city health office said the meningococcemia prevention campaign has so far been widely received by the local populace.
Health workers administer the vaccines to children of school age while barangay health centers have been catering to the younger children in the local centers.
The immunization program is being implemented by the Department of Health through the regional Center for Health Development in Baguio, Benguet, Mt. Province and Ifugao where meningococcemia cases have been recorded since September last year.
Health authorities, however, stressed that the program is not an epidemic response as there is no such epidemic in said areas.
Its aim "to increase the immunity of identified segment of the population, to decrease the probability of disease occurrence and to reduce fatality among identified segment of the population."
Moreover, the vaccination will not prevent the carrier state, meaning that being immune does not mean that a person cannot transfer the disease to another susceptible person.
The two to eight years age group was selected as target group because fatality rate is found to be highest for the one to six years old age group because of their higher susceptibility to infection and signs and symptoms are relatively more difficult to identify in young children.
"Based on medical literature, zero conversion is poor in children below the age of two years. This explains why this age group was not prioritized and will be given only under certain conditions," it was explained.
As per implementing guidelines, children who have received meningococcemia vaccines of any kind within the last 30 months need not avail of the immunization.
Records showed that to date of the 410 cases of meningococcal infections have been recorded in the region since September 2004.
Forty percent of the cases occurred in Benguet, 30 percent in Baguio, 16 percent in Mt. Province and one percent in Ifugao. Of the total, there were 85 fatalities, most of which were reported
in Benguet and Baguio.
"While certain epidemiologic indicators have been identified and risk factors discussed, no single underlying explanation has been forwarded regarding the sudden emergence of this disease amongst the population in the region," it was noted.
The disease persists despite variations in weather conditions and other outside factors and only intensive surveillance and immediate and extended treatment responses have probably prevented more cases. A compounding factor has been the predominance of primary cases and the inability to link a significant proportion of the cases to each other, the health office added.
The vaccination threshold has exceeded in the provinces of Benguet and Mt. Province and in Baguio City and in consideration of the population congestion in specific municipalities and with the mobility of the population, a semi-mass vaccination strategy" is needed. (Sun.Star Baguio)
(November 13, 2005 issue)
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