The Department of Health (DOH) is targeting to vaccinate at least 880,000 infants nationwide who missed their scheduled routine immunization.
DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the program will roll-out every last Thursday and Friday starting April to June.
"Itong ating (This) special immunization days for routine vaccines, we are targeting 80 percent of the 1.1 million children zero to 12 months old," said Vergeire during a media forum on Friday, April 8.
“Atin pong tangkilikin upang matiyak na ligtas ang ating mga chikiting mula sa iba’t-ibang sakit kagaya ng polio, measles, tuberculosis at iba pa (Let's avail this to ensure that our little ones are safe from various diseases such as polio, measles, tuberculosis, and others diseases)," she added.
Measles cases
In a related development, Vergeire said that measles cases in the country remain low. At present, the DOH recorded 45 cases of measles for this year, compared to the 83 cases recorded during the”same time period from last year.”
“Based on our PIDSR (Philippine Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response) report, yung surveillance report namin as of March 19, mas mababa pa rin ang naitatala nating mga kaso ng tigdas ngayong taon kumpara doon sa same time period last year (Based on our PIDSR report, our surveillance report as of March 19, we are still recording lower measles cases this year compared to the same time period last year),” she said.
“Makikita natin na mababa pa rin pero maraming factors kung bakit bumababa. Una syempre nakakatulong yung minimum public health standards. Pangalawa, less interaction tayo ngayon dahil tayo ay may mga restrictions. Pangatlo, tinitingnan din natin yung ibang may sakit baka hindi nakakapunta sa ating access sites or RHUs (rural health units) para magpacheck up (We can see that it is still low but there are many factors for this decline. First, of course, the minimum public health standards. Second, we have less interaction now because we have restrictions. Third, we are also looking at other patients who may not be able to go to our access sites or RHUs for check up),” she added.