The Department of Health is targeting to vaccinate about 16 million children under five-years-old as it sets to conduct measles and polio supplemental immunization campaign next month.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III announced that they are set to start a nationwide measles and polio supplemental immunization campaign beginning Oct. 26.
“Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, a high-quality immunization campaign is urgently needed to stop measles transmission and possible outbreaks. We encourage parents and caregivers to have their children immunized,” said Duque in a joint statement together with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF).
“(The) DoH is conducting the campaign for children under five-years-old -- around 9.4 million children for the measles-rubella vaccine and 6.9 million children for the oral polio vaccine,” he added.
The campaign will be rolled out in two phases. Phase 1 will be conducted from Oct. 26 to Nov. 25 in Mindanao, Cordillera Administrative Region, Ilocos region, Cagayan Valley, Mimaropa region, and Bicol region. The Phase 2 will be in February 2021 in Visayas, National Capital Region, and Calabarzon.
The UNICEF urged parents to let their children be vaccinated by healthcare workers.
“We are at an especially challenging time when immunization for children is being threatened. All of us must do our part in ensuring children in our family are immunized, and that we provide the correct information to parents, community members and among our peers,” said UNICEF Philippines Representative Oyunsaikhan Dendevnorov.
The two vaccines are necessary to protect children from vaccine-preventable diseases, said WHO Country Representative to the Philippines Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe.
"While measles is highly contagious, it is also a preventable disease. We must not lose the decades of progress we have achieved in immunizing and protecting Filipino children," said Abeyasinghe.
“We have to remember that the polio outbreak is not over, so it is critical that we continue this life-saving work of immunizing our children against this debilitating disease, while responding to COVID-19,” noted Abeyasinghe in a separate joint statement.
Measles is a dangerous and fatal disease, with complications that can include severe diarrhea and dehydration, pneumonia, ear and eye complications, encephalitis or swelling of the brain, or permanent disability.
There are around 3,500 reported measles cases with 36 deaths in the country as of August.
Polio is an infectious disease that affects the nervous system and causes paralysis or even death. The total number of polio cases in the Philippines currently stands at 16 since the disease made a resurgence in the country in September last year.