DOH to vax 880,000 infants who missed routine immunization

(FILE PHOTO) The DOH launched in Parañaque City an intensified vaccination program for children in April 2018. INQUIRER/MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) is aiming to vaccinate around 880,000 infants who missed their routine immunization in 2021.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said Friday that the initiative, dubbed as the “Chikiting Bakunation Days,” will run during the last Thursdays and Fridays of the months of April, May and June.

“Itong ating special immunization days for routine vaccines, we are targeting 80 percent of the 1.1 million children 0 to 12 months old [who missed the routine vaccination],” she said in an online press briefing.

(For the special immunization days for routine vaccines, we are targeting 80 percent of 1.1 million children 0 to 12 months old who missed the routine vaccination.)

“Atin pong tangkilikin upang matiyak na ligtas ang ating mga chikiting mula sa iba’t-ibang sakit kagaya ng polio, measles, tuberculosis at iba pa,” she added.

(Let us patronize it to ensure the safety of infants against diseases including polio, measles, tuberculosis, and others.)

Vergeire said the DOH is doubling its efforts to vaccinate because only 46 percent of infants in the country were vaccinated during the routine immunization last year.

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/MUF