In less than two weeks, the Manila city government has vaccinated 86.7 percent of the targeted population in its measles-rubella immunization drive.
Manila City Mayor Francisco "Isko Moreno" Domagoso commended the Manila Health Department (MHD) for almost finishing the city's vaccination drive against measles-rubella.
“'Nakakatuwa naman. Masisipag 'yung ating mga kawani sa Manila Health Department (I'm glad, the personnel of Manila Health Department are very hardworking),” he said in a statement on Monday, Feb. 15.
“So, with that, we learned a lot of things already and we’ll move on the moment na nandiyan na yung bakuna (that the COVID-19 vaccines arrive) and we’re expecting it hopefully soon,” he added.
The MHD is on track to complete the vaccination program by Wednesday, Feb. 17, almost two weeks ahead of its schedule, according to Manila City Health Officer Dr. Arnold "Poks" Pangan.
"We would really want to finish it by February 17, I think kakayanin naman (it is possible) given the performance ng ating (of our) healthcare workers in the past few days,” Dr. Pangan said.
The city health officer added that the local government targets to finish the measles-rubella vaccination program prior to the arrival of the COVID-19 vaccines. This will help the city government's health personnel to prepare and fully focus on the COVID-19 vaccination program.
"We targeted na matapos talaga agad itong measles vaccination para mas makapaghanda rin ang Manila Health Department sa COVID-19 vaccination. The vaccines may arrive anytime," he said.
"Helpful din para sa ating medical frontliners ang measles vaccination activity na ito dahil kahit papaano ay na-familiarize sila ulit sa proseso ng pagpapabakuna (The measles vaccination is also helpful for our medical frontliners because they will be familiarized again with the process of vaccination)," the city health officer added.
The program, dubbed as “Chikiting Ligtas,” was done with the help of the Department of Health (DOH), United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), and other health organizations. It aims to vaccinate children against measles-rubella nationwide.