Grade 5 girls in 42 schools: 8,000 get anti-cervical cancer vaccine in Cebu

CEBU, Philippines - Almost 8,000 female pupils in 42 elementary schools in Cebu have completed the cervical prevention-free vaccine run yesterday.

The Human Papilloma Virus or HPV school-based vaccine initiative was jointly spearheaded by the Department of Health, Department of Education, and Merck Sharp and Dohme (MSD), in cooperation with the National Youth Commission.

The program covers Cebu and Baguio City as pilot areas but almost 90 percent of recipients are from Cebu. Yesterday’s simultaneous vaccination in both areas was the third and last.

Cervical cancer is the leading cause of female mortality in the country, killing 12 women every day.

First dose was given September last year with a turnout of 7,742 from the 8,122 eligible Grade 5 pupils aged 10 to 14 years old.

The booster vaccine was administered November and yesterday was the third and final shot.

Michael Alzona, marker access manager for MSD, stressed that the high acceptability rate in Cebu proved that they were not wrong in placing majority of the near 9,000 vaccines donated for the program.

“It’s just right to choose Cebu as our pilot area where most of the slots were allotted given the low refusal rate. I guess the orientation given by DOH Central Office to parents and children alike before the first dose was very helpful in convincing them of the benefits and at the same time clearing doubts and apprehensions,” Alzona explained.

Six areas in Cebu province were identified with 42 public elementary and one Catholic school as recipients.

These include Cebu City, Mandaue City, Talisay City, Lapulapu City, Minglanilla and Consolacion.

Jane Michelle Ediza, a nurse from Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) Section of DOH-7, noted that refusals were only below 400, a minimal chunk of the 8,000 target population.

In Cebu City, there were 212 reported refusals with reasons including the child having fever and cough, being absent on the day the vaccine was administered, and parents disallowance, among others.

Talisay City has 88 refusals, 40 in Mandaue City, 17 in Minglanilla and 16 in Consolacion.

“We recorded 95 percent compliance from the first dose. There were some refusals for identified reasons. We are still waiting for the complete report from all the recipient schools before coming up with the second dose data,” Ediza said.

Doctor Eugenia Mercedes Canal, acting chief of DOH-7 NCD, emphasized the importance of protecting women at an early stage to prevent HPV-related diseases.

“As early as possible, we want to protect our children from threats specifically HPV related diseases including cervical cancer which is number four cause of death in women,” Canal explained.

One of the recipient public schools in Cebu City is Guadalupe Elementary School whose principal, Dr. Nestor Arandia, said they immediately agreed to participate in this initiative following communication from DepEd Division office.

“We accepted the offer to have our school join in this pilot program because this is for the good of our girl students. At first there were refusals and hesitations from parents but the orientation helped convince them and erase rumors of ill-effects like sterility,” Arandia said.

Teresita Sasam, 44, mother of one of Guadalupe child recipients, said that the benefits from the vaccine were properly explained by DOH officials.

“Kung naa sad gani para namong mga mama, muapil gyud ko kay makaayo man gud siya. Unya libre nga gihatag. Mahal baya na. Chance na kayo ni nga libre dayon ma protektaran na among anak,” Sasam said. —/GMR (FREEMAN)