MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH), with the help of local government units, is set to kick off its nationwide supplemental vaccination program against measles, rubella, and polio on October 26.
DOH said Wednesday children aged nine to 59 months old will be given a measles-rubella vaccine while zero to 59 months old babies will be provided with an oral polio vaccine.
The vaccination program will have two phases, according to the health agency. Phase 1 will be conducted from October 26 to November 25 in Mindanao regions, Cordillera Administrative Region, Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley Region, MIMAROPA, and Bicol Region; while Phase 2 will be conducted in February 2021 in Visayas Regions, Metro Manila, Central Luzon, and Calabarzon.
“Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, a high-quality immunization activity is urgently needed to avert a possible measles outbreak in 2021 and halt the ongoing polio recirculation in communities. We encourage parents and caregivers to have their children immunized,” Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said in a statement.
The vaccination program was launched as an estimated 2.4 million children under the age of five are deemed susceptible to measles in 2020.
DOH’s Dr. Wilda Silva said that all provinces in the Philippines are at high-risk for a measles outbreak.
“Everybody is at risk because everybody, all provinces and almost all cities, are high-risk for measles,” she said in an online forum.
Polio, on the other hand, is a potentially debilitating disease that causes fever, neck stiffness, muscle weakness, and can eventually lead to lifelong paralysis.