Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto called on Pasigueño parents to have their children vaccinated against preventable diseases as part of the national government's efforts in boosting the number of children immunized against measles, rubella, and polio. Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto
"Sana magtulungan po tayo para mapataas yung bilang ng mga nabakunahan sa measles, rubella, at polio dahil gaya ng sinabi satin kanina, ito yung mga sakit na napakadaling iwasan kung mababakunahan lang po ang ating kabataan (Let's all work together in increasing the number of vaccinated children against measles, rubella, and polio because just like what was discussed earlier, these diseases can easily be prevented by vaccinating our youth)," Sotto said. "Kaya sa mga kasama natin sabihin natin at ipaalala natin sa mga kamag-anak natin na may anak na maliliit, pumunta tayo sa mga health centers, nakaannounce naman po lahat yan sa mga posters, at sa FB. Madali naman pong malaman kung papano at saan babakunahan (Please urge those who have small kids to proceed to the health centers to get their children vaccinated against diseases. All information that they need as to how and where they can have their children vaccinated is already posted around the city and on Facebook)," he added. The mayor also noted that the city government has already deployed house-to-house vaccination teams around the city to further increase Pasig's inoculation coverage. According to the Department of Health (DOH), it is targeting to vaccinate 9.5 million children for the MR vaccine, 11.1 million children for the polio vaccine, and 10 million for the Vitamin A supplement nationwide. In the National Capital Region (NCR), the agency is targeting one million children with the MR vaccine and 1.1 million children with the polio vaccine. As of 2019, there were almost 50,000 cases of measles, 637 of which resulted in death. There were 37 casualties in 2020, and 589 cases in 2022 with one death. For polio, the DOH has recorded 19 cases and four deaths. In April, the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) expressed concern after over one million children in the country failed to receive their vaccines against vaccine-preventable diseases in 2021. According to UNICEF Philippines immunization specialist Dr. Carla Orozco, India registered the highest number of zero-dose children, or those who have not received a single dose of vaccine by the time the child reaches one year old, with 2,711,000; followed by Nigeria with 2,247,000; Indonesia with 1,150,000; Ethiopia with 1,134,000; and the Philippines with 1,048,000. Orozco said that there are a number of factors as to why the country yielded a high number of unvaccinated children. "Some LGUs would only have once a month vaccination sessions. And also, there is inadequate tracking of defaulters. Defaulters are those children that have not completed their immunization schedule but they have actually started it -- and that is a usual scenario in the Philippines, they don't complete their vaccination schedule on time. There is lack of regular outreach immunization services, inadequate human resource," the doctor said. Another reason is vaccine hesitancy. "Like religious beliefs, perceptions that vaccines are not important, misinformation -- possible side effects, etc. These have contributed really to the low trust in vaccine's safety and efficacy," she added. The Covid-19 pandemic also halted the routine immunization services of the LGUs. "Because of the urgent need to end the pandemic, the government and all sectors -- the priority, focus is really on the Covid-19 response, which overwhelmed the health system, especially human resources and funding as well. It affected the delivery of essential health services like immunization," Orozco explained.