The Department of Health (DOH) still needs to inoculate 1.3 million more children to meet its target of immunizing 5.1 million children for measles-rubella this month.
In a virtual forum on Tuesday, Feb. 23, DOH - Disease Prevention and Control Bureau head Dr. Beverly Ho revealed that so far they have already immunized 3.7 million of their target number.
"We have targeted around 5.1million kids, vaccinated around 3.7 million... We still need to vaccinate around 1.3 million children in the next four days including today," she said.
The DOH aims to vaccinate 5.1 million for the Measles Rubella (MR) vaccine this month
The Health department is also targeting to vaccinate 1.2 million more children against polio in the next few days.
"The target is 4.7 million kids and we have vaccinated 3.4 million," said Ho.
The DOH, together with the Local Government Units, started the conduct of a nationwide Measles Rubella - Oral Polio Vaccine Supplemental Immunization (MR-OPV SIA) activity in October last year.
Phase 1 was conducted from Oct. 26 to Nov. 25, 2020 while the Phase 2 will be conducted this month.
Children 9 to 59 months old will be given measles - rubella vaccine while 0-59 months old will be provided with oral polio vaccine.
The MR vaccination drive covers the National Capital Region, Central Luzon, CALABARZON, Western Visayas, Central Visayas, and Eastern Visayas while for the OPV covers Central Luzon, CALABARZON, Western Visayas, Central Visayas, and Eastern Visayas.
"Unfortunately for some of the barangays in these areas, there has been an increase in COVID-19 cases. Some areas are on lockdown, and that compromised the ability of our vaccinators to go into those areas," Ho said.
"The moment the lockdown is lifted, LGUs are highly encouraged to continue performing the MR-OPV campaign," she added.