DOH urged to vaccinate 1.93 million kindergartners

MANILA, Philippines - A party-list lawmaker urged the Department of Health to vaccinate the 1.93 million children in the new kindergarten program of the Department of Education (DepEd).

LPGMA party-list Rep. Arnel Ty filed House Resolution 1456 that also urged the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the National Food Authority (NFA) to mobilize available resources and launch feeding and rice distribution campaigns for DepEd’s new preschoolers aged five years old and below.

The resolution came shortly after President Aquino signed the Mandatory Immunization Law for Infants and Children or Republic Act 10152.

“The toddlers gathered in DepEd’s preschools provide the national government a new captive audience and an excellent opportunity to aggressively and methodically advance child health and nutrition through vaccination and feeding drives,” Ty said.

He said if implemented, his proposal would also encourage needy families to send and keep their children in DepEd’s kindergarten program.

He said while the DSWD and the NFA may have existing school feeding and rice distribution campaigns for public elementary schools, “both agencies still do not have any such drives devoted solely to toddlers in DepEd’s nursery program.”

Under the new law, which takes effect this week, the compulsory immunization would cover vaccine-preventable diseases such as tuberculosis, diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis, poliomyelitis, measles, mumps, rubella or German measles, hepatitis-B, and H. influenza type B.

The inoculation would be given for free at any government hospital or health center to infants and children up to five years of age.

The new law also requires the state-run Philippine Health Insurance Corp. to include the basic immunization services in its benefit package.

The DepEd started its kindergarten program last month to improve access to early childhood education.

Before the program was established, families that could not pay for expensive private nurseries had no choice but to either send their children to a barangay day care center, if one is available, or wait for their children to reach the age of six and qualify for Grade 1 in a public school.

In his resolution, Ty also urged the private sector, through the Philippine Business Social Progress and the League of Corporate Foundations, to support DepEd’s kindergarten classes through the Adopt-a-School Program, under which donors are entitled to gainful tax benefits.