FOR the Department of Health (DOH), vaccine hesitancy is still among the challenges encountered by rapid coverage assessment teams of the polio outbreak immunization response.
DOH-Northern Mindanao family health cluster head Dr. Elma Oclarit said some are still hesitant while others even refused to get their children vaccinated due to vaccine misconceptions.
Oclarit added that they are still monitoring anti-vaccine movements in the region.
For instance, Oclarit said the province of Camiguin has this history. At present, Camiguin is the province with the lowest immunization coverage rate at 80.39 percent.
Faced with this challenge, Oclarit said health workers are directed to respect the choice of parents or guardians.
“Our approach to this is intensify our information education because we also need to respect them because it is their belief,” she said.
Refusal to the vaccine is still observed based on the DOH-Northern Mindanao statistics. In Cagayan de Oro, some 501 cases are monitored to have refused the vaccination and 18 in Iligan City.
Meanwhile, Oclarit clarified that the region has no confirmed polio case. Of the reported 46 cases with Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP), all came back negative for polio.
The region has already hit an 89.27-percent immunization coverage or a total of 521,403 kids vaccinated as of December 2, the 9th day of the polio immunization outbreak response.
The health department continues its immunization campaign dubbed as “Sabayang Patak Kontra Polio” from November 25 to December 7, where all children under five years of age will receive a dose of the oral polio vaccine during the campaign.