Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Wednesday urged local government units (LGUs) to ramp up their immunization programs to prevent outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases which are now on the rise, with measles deaths around the world increasing.
(MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
Gatchalian, citing data from the Department of Health (DOH), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), said that as of August 2020, there were around 3,500 reported measles cases in the country with 36 deaths and most of the cases involved children under five years old.
The senator said UNICEF’s report last April already warned that some 2 million children in the country were at risk of missing out on vaccination because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Vaccination programs in the Philippines are also down from 87 percent in 2014 to 68 percent in 2019.
“Upang hindi na lumala ang krisis pang-kalusugan na nararanasan natin dahil sa COVID-19, kailangang maiwasan natin ang pagkalat ng mga nakamamatay na sakit na tulad ng tigdas na maaaring maiwasan sa pamamagitan ng mga bakuna (To stop the health crisis we experienced due to COVID-19 from worsening, we need to stop the spread of deadly diseases like measles which is preventable through vaccination),” said Gatchalian.
“Ang mga bakunang ito ay maaaring matanggap ng libre sa mga pampublikong ospital at mga health center, kaya dapat nating hikayatin ang mga magulang na pabakunahan ang kanilang mga anak, (these vaccines can be received for free in public hospitals and health centers, that’s why it’s imperative to convince parents to have their children vaccinated),” he stressed.
Gatchalian said it is important that the government address the “vaccine hesitancy” in the country, which the DOH said is one of the causes of the measles outbreak.
He said vaccine hesitancy happens when there is delay and refusal in the acceptance of vaccines despite their availability.
The senator warned that if public distrust of vaccine persists, it would be a challenge for the government to roll out its COVID-19 vaccination program to defeat the pandemic.
According to Gatchalian, Republic Act No. 10152 or the Mandatory Infants and Children Health Immunization Act of 2011, the government is mandated to provide free and mandatory basic immunization at any government hospital or health center to infants and children up to five (5) years of age.
Aside from measles and polio, other diseases covered in this law include tuberculosis, German measles, and Hepatitis-B, among others.
Also, under the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI), the lawmaker said each barangay should have at least one health staff trained on the Reaching Every Barangay (REB) strategy to improve access to regular immunization programs.