DOH sets school-based inoculations next month

MANILA, Philippines — A nationwide school-based immunization program will be launched next month, Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa said yesterday.

The Bakuna Eskwela program will be launched on Oct. 7 at the Dr. Alejandro Albert Elementary School in Manila.

Public school students in Grades 1 and 7 will be inoculated with vaccines for measles, rubella, tetanus and diphtheria.

Female students aged nine will receive the human papillomavirus vaccine to prevent cervical cancer.

“Every year, we target about two million (children). Our current rate is at 34 percent. We want around 1.5 million kids to get vaccinated through these catch-up (campaigns),” Herbosa said.

Students could receive the vaccinations every Friday after Oct. 7, he noted.

Based on DOH data, the coverage of fully immunized children in the country is below the 95 percent target since 2010.

As of July 2024, the country has reached only 34.7 percent of fully immunized children.

Herbosa attributed the further dip in the national immunization status to the pandemic.

“There was no school-based vaccination because there were no (face-to-face) classes,” he said.

President Marcos has raised the budget for the DOH national immunization program by 40 percent, or P2.3 billion, from 2021 to 2025.

Meanwhile, Herbosa said the DOH is trying to make it mandatory for private clinics and practitioners to report the number of children they have vaccinated.

Around 10 to 15 percent of the data is missing due to non-reporting by private health care providers, he said.

Tech gaps in schools

Meanwhile, Education Secretary Sonny Angara said yesterday that technological gaps in public schools will be addressed.

He issued the statemnent following his Monday meeting with various partners to discuss boosting technology in schools.

Digitalization was one of the Department of Education’s priorities to address the lack of learning materials in public schools, Angara said during his meeting with Philippine officials of the World Bank.

Decentralizing the implementation of DepEd programs was also discussed.

Angara met with representatives of graphic design firm Canva, which provides schools, learners and teachers with free and enhanced visual communications and collaboration platforms.

Officials of the DepEd, Australian embassy, Austrade and Canva Philippines discussed areas of collaboration.

Canva Philippines lead Yani Hornilla-Donato said she is optimistic about the partnership’s ability to help students nationwide.

The DepEd is currently implementing its flagship program, DepEd Digital Education 2028, which aims to fully digitalize the agency, provide WiFi to all schools and procure electronic versions of textbooks.

Earlier this year, the DepEd reported that while about 69 percent of schools nationwide have internet connectivity, most are limited to faculty rooms.

The agency is also consulting publishers to provide students with e-textbooks. — Neil Jayson Servallos