ILOILO CITY – The city government is set to start cholera vaccination following an outbreak of acute gastroenteritis and cholera here.
The Metro Pacific Iloilo Water (MPIW), the joint venture between the Metro Iloilo Water District (MIWD) and Metro Pacific Water (MPW), donated 1,000 doses of cholera vaccine to the Iloilo City government.
“We are still identifying which barangays will be included for the vaccination,” said Dr. Roland Jay Fortuna of the Iloilo City Health Office (ICHO).
Acute gastroenteritis has affected 122 out of the 180 or 68 percent of the barangays here.
Fortuna said the city government will prioritize barangays that have clustering of cases of acute gastroenteritis in the vaccination.
ICHO-City Epidemiology and Disease Surveillance Unit (CESU) data said Barangay Calaparan in Arevalo district has the most number of acute gastroenteritis cases with 28, followed by Barangay Calumpang in Molo district with 25.
Fortuna added that toddlers will also be prioritized in the vaccination as the majority of those affected are young children.
The city government will also procure vaccines if needed.
As of Tuesday, Sept. 20, this city has 30 active and 19 new acute gastroenteritis cases.
This city has logged 637 acute gastroenteritis cases but 594 or 93 percent have recovered.