The Department of Health (DOH) on Monday, April 8, said that the measles, locally known as "tigdas," vaccination in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) will have a two-day pause in observance of Eid’l Fitr on April 10 and 11.
"We'll be pausing for two days because of Eid’l Fitr, and then, I said it's okay to pause as long as the following day, after the holiday, we need to double the numbers of children being vaccinated," Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa said in a public briefing on Bagong Pilipinas segment of PTV.
"We have injected about half a million of these kids, so we still have ways to go, we'll still reach them, we'll catch up," he added in a mix of English and Filipino.
Following reports that 57 percent, representing more than half of the country's measles cases, were in the BARMM, the DOH initiated vaccination efforts in April.
"We're immunizing 1.3 million children. We started on April 1," the health secretary said
"So eventually, we convinced the Ministry of Health to declare a public health emergency, and now we're focusing on that with UNICEF (United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund), WHO (World Health Organization), (Philippines) Red Cross, and we're conducting a measles outbreak response immunization,” he added.
READ:
https://mb.com.ph/2024/3/29/doh-most-number-of-cases-of-measles-rubella-reported-in-barmm
Herbosa pointed out that despite reaching an 85 percent measles vaccination rate at the national level, the vaccination coverage for children in BARMM stood at only 50 percent.
“So now, if I have an outbreak there, half of the country's cases of measles from January to March are in the BARMM," he said.
RELATED STORY:
https://mb.com.ph/2024/3/29/doh-targets-1-3-million-children-for-vaccination-in-barmm
Meanwhile, in a press briefing on April 5, the WHO Pacific Region highlighted measles as one of its primary concerns alongside "whooping cough" or pertussis.
WHO Representative to the Philippines Dr. Rui Paulo de Jesus noted that the government has effectively mobilized 4,579 vaccinators in the BARMM to combat measles.
READ:
https://mb.com.ph/2024/4/5/who-raises-concerns-over-measles-pertussis