500,000 children eyed for polio vaccination

Photo by Elijah Romero
Photo by Elijah Romero

THE Department of Health (DOH)-Davao targets more than 500,000 children for its Oral Polio Vaccination (OPV), which is part of its massive immunization program dubbed as Sabayang Patak Kontra Polio, which will run from October 2019 to January 2020.

DOH-Davao Director Annabelle Yumang assured during the Usapang Kalusugan Monday, September 30, at Park Inn by Radisson that they have enough vaccines to be used for this massive campaign to address the resurgence of polio.

The vaccines will be provided by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) for free.

"We will not be worried about the vaccines to be used in this campaign," she said.

Yumang said the first round of mass polio vaccination will be on October 14 to 27, covering all children five years old and below in Davao City and Davao del Sur, regardless of their immunization status. This means that even if the children have already received polio vaccines previously, they will still be given the vaccine.

The second round is slated on November 25 to December 27 and the third round will be on January 6 to 18, 2020. Both rounds will cover all provinces in Davao region and all regions in Mindanao.

DOH said P213 million has been allocated for this campaign.

The DOH-Davao noted a total of 259,000 children to be immunized -- 186,869 in Davao City and 72,389 in Davao del Sur.

The department has yet to finalize the breakdown for other provinces for the second and third rounds.

Children five years old and below will receive three doses of OPV and one dose of Inactive Polio Vaccine for them to be protected against polio virus.

Though there are still apprehensions regarding vaccination, Yumang assured that these vaccines are safe, effective and are life-saving tool to protect the children against vaccine-preventable diseases.

OPV will be orally taken and not injected.

"One of the factors contributing to the low immunization coverage in the previous campaigns is due to unavailability of parents or caregivers to give consent for their children to be vaccinated. Those who were left with the children are not capable of making medical decisions such as immunization, thus, leaving the child unprotected," Yumang said.

Earlier, the Davao City Health Office (CHO) confirmed that the polio virus detected was from a water sample sourced from the Davao River near the Bolton Bridge area. This report alarmed health officials, as it poses risk for the children who are not yet immunized or have not yet completed their immunization against this crippling and fatal disease.

"It is horrible for a child to suffer from polio just because his/her parents failed to get him/ her vaccinated. No child should be left with a disability or worst die just because his/her parents are too busy or refused to get them vaccinated due to misconceptions," she added.

Meanwhile, Yumang appealed to local chief executives, health workers, and parents to cooperate with their department to eradicate the disease.

"Let us exert greater effort to overcome the challenges our country is facing today over vaccine-preventable diseases. Let us strengthen our partnership, utilize all possible initiatives to accelerate the eradication of these vaccine-preventable diseases. Let us all take part in this Sabayang Patak Kontra Polio and ensure that no child is left behind," Yumang said.

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