THE Department of Health (DOH) in Northern Mindanao is scrambling to hit the remaining one percent of the total 95 percent polio immunization target in the region.
Dr. Ian Christian Gonzales, DOH Infectious Diseases Cluster head said although they are now a step away from the target, the 1 percent population is still equivalent to 30,000 unvaccinated kids.
Gonzales said the 1 percent target is the most challenging for health workers. This referred to those who refused to get vaccinated due to common vaccine misconceptions.
"Ang uban lisod gyud kay religious nila nga conviction nga bawal ang vaccines and the vaccine misconceptions nga naay side effects ang vaccine which is not true kay ang oral vaccine nato wala gyud side effects unlike sa injectable vaccines nga pwede maghilanat," he said.
"This 1 percent mao pud ni ang naa sa layo nga areas kay ang central areas naadtoan naman tanan," he added.
While rapid response teams are evenly distributed in every corner of the regions, health workers in areas with high accomplishment are now deployed to low-performing areas.
In Misamis Oriental, Binuangan remains the municipality with the lowest turnout of polio vaccination.
Gonzales said they are now doubling their efforts particularly in Bukidnon with only 16,000 remaining unvaccinated kids and Misamis Oriental with a little over 1,000 kids who still didn't receive the vaccine.
The mass vaccination is supposed to run only from November 25 to December 7 but Gonzales said its central office has extended the deadline to December 13 to hit the 95 percent target.
"Wala man nuon sanction per se kay wala na hit ang target but we worry nga kung di na ma-hit ang target, mopadayon nga madungagan ang kaso which is worse than any sanction," Gonzales added.