Help raise vaccine coverage among kids, solon tells barangay, SK poll winners
At A Glance
- Citing the steady decline in child Immunization rates, AnaKalusugan Party-list Rep. Ray Reyes has challenged newly-elected barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) officials to help address the problem.
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Citing the steady decline in child Immunization rates, AnaKalusugan Party-list Rep. Ray Reyes has challenged newly-elected barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) officials to help address the problem.
"Ang hamon natin sa ating mga bagong halal na barangay at SK officials ay umaksyon para muli nating mapataas ang bilang ng mga bakunadong bata sa ating mga komunidad," Reyes said.
(Our challenge to the newly-elected barangay and SK officials is for them to act quickly in order to raise the number of immunized children in our communities.)
"Malaki ang maitutulong ng ating barangay at SK officials sa pagkumbinsi sa mga magulang na pabakunahan ang kanilang mga anak," the pro-health lawmaker said.
(Our barangay and SK officials will be of huge help in convincing parents to have their children vaccinated.)
The last barangay and SK polls were conducted only last Oct. 30.
The Department of Health (DOH) recently reported that vaccine coverage among children has been on a steady decline since 2020. It said that from 69.08 percent in 2019, the number of fully-immunized children (FIC) dropped to 65.18 percent in 2020, and to 62.86 percent in 2021.
The drop has been steeper in 2022, the DOH noted, with only 53.60 percent of children aged zero to 12 months being fully immunized.
An FIC is an infant who has received one dose of bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG), three doses of oral poliovirus vaccines (OPV), three doses of diphtheria-Haemophilus influenzae-hepatitis B (DPT-HIB-HepB) vaccines, and two doses of meningococcal vaccine by 12 months.
Reyes urged local government units (LGUs) to ramp up their vaccination efforts to protect children from diseases that could debilitate them or even cause death.
Aside from vaccination for infants, he also pushed for local leaders to also help in getting more girls from grade 4 and above vaccinated against the human papilloma virus (HPV).