THE Department of Health (DOH) 7 has urged the public to support its ongoing Measles Rubella and Oral Polio Vaccine Supplemental Immunization Activity (MR-OPV SIA) amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.
Dr. Jaime Bernadas, DOH 7 director, earlier this week said the community should not lose sight of its fight against other types of vaccine-preventable diseases while it continues to battle the current health crisis.
The DOH 7 dedicated the whole month of February to conduct phase two of the MR-OPV SIA.
Bernadas reminded their partners in the provinces, cities and municipalities to step up efforts to immunize children.
He said Central Visayas’ immunization accomplishment is the lowest in the country.
“We must do it in double time. We must bring children zero to 59 months (old) to our health centers so they can get shots of vaccines to avoid the vaccine-preventable diseases,” he said in a mix of Cebuano and English.
According to its website, the campaign “is a hard battle for the DOH, all local government units and other partners considering the triple threat of outbreaks on top of the Covid-19 pandemic.”
There is an ongoing polio outbreak, which started in 2019, “with cases detected from the Acute Flaccid Paralysis surveillance and poliovirus isolates that were seen in environmental samples. At the same time, there is a threat of a measles outbreak and continuing spread of rubella virus in the country.”
As of Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021, Cebu City had the lowest coverage for measles-rubella SIA.
Although it does not have the highest target number of eligible children, it only has an accomplishment rate of 39.28 percent — 34,533 vaccinated out of its target of 87,921 children.
Bohol has the highest coverage for measles-rubella SIA at 66.42 percent — 80,976 of the 121, 912 eligible children.
Cebu Province is also halfway at 58.23 percent — 163,099 of the 280,080 target number of children.
Cebu City also lags in terms of performance for the oral polio vaccine supplementary immunization.
Of its 103,819 eligible children, only 40,791 (39.29 percent) had been vaccinated as of Feb. 18.
Meanwhile, Siquijor is responding positively at 66.50 percent — 6,019 of the 9,051 eligible children for vaccination.
Cebu Province, which has the most number of target eligible children, is now at 58.71 percent after vaccinating a total of 194,166 of 330,719 target eligible children.
“We highly encourage parents and guardians to have their children immunized,” said Health Secretary Francisco Duque III in an earlier report, adding that the measles, rubella and oral polio vaccines “are guaranteed to be safe, effective and free.”
“Vaccination saves lives and prevents disabilities from such diseases. These vaccines can give our vulnerable children a good start at life so they can grow into healthy and productive adults. Above all, no child should be left behind,” Duque said. (WBS)