DOH misses 95% vax drive target in Metro Manila

MANILA, Philippines — Many children in Metro Manila remain at risk of getting infected with measles and other preventable diseases as the Department of Health (DOH) fell short of its target in immunizing the eligible young population.

As of September, Arnold Louie Alina of the DOH-Metro Manila Center for Health Development’s national immunization program said the region had recorded only 51.99 percent full immunization coverage (FIC).

“Metro Manila ranked second among all regions in terms of FIC, but we should not be complacent since our target vaccination rate is 95 percent,” Alina said.

He said the immunization coverage in Metro Manila is still lacking by 24 percent to achieve the required FIC for attaining herd immunity.

According to Alina, most parents in Metro Manila are working and unable to bring their children to health centers for immunization.

DOH-NCR director Rio Magpantay said they also had difficulty achieving the immunization target due to false information about vaccines on social media.

“Sometimes people believe the information coming from anti-vaxxers,” he said.

For this reason, Alina said the DOH-NCR is mounting a regionwide “catch-up” immunization campaign from Nov. 18 to Dec. 16.

The “BayaniJuan” vaccination drive seeks to immunize at least 3.8 million public school students in Grades 1 and 7.

Alina said the DOH would conduct house-to-house vaccinations for infants age zero to 12 months with missed doses of BCG, hepatitis B bivalent oral polio, pentavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, inactivated polio virus vaccine as well as measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.

Pregnant women will also be provided free tetanus and diphtheria vaccine. Senior citizens will be given shots of influenza vaccine.

The DOH will also set up immunization centers in malls, churches and terminals.

The agency has reported an increase in dengue and leptospirosis cases in Metro Manila in the past weeks.

Health Assistant Secretary Alberto Domingo said the spike in dengue cases in Metro Manila was apparently caused by the successive typhoons.

Except for Metro Manila and Calabarzon, Domingo said dengue cases in other regions are on the downtrend.