A child gets free vaccination against measles-rubella and polio at a Mobile Bus Vaccine Clinic at Barangay Holy Spirit in Quezon City during a mass vaccination campaign led by the Philippine Red Cross on Saturday, Feb. 6, 2021. (File photo by NIÑO JESUS ORBETA / Philippine Daily Inquirer)
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) on Tuesday said it had already vaccinated over eight million youths against measles and polio.
Based on the data released by the DOH, 6,750,475 — 69.56% of eligible children — have already been vaccinated against measles and rubella, or German measles.
Meanwhile, 2,024,747 children — or 62.72% — of the eligible population have been vaccinated against polio.
The vaccination effort is part of the DOH’s immunization drive “Chikiting Ligtas 2023,” which is being conducted this May to avert outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases, specifically measles, rubella, and polio.
This came just in time after a Unicef report showed that the public perception of the importance of vaccines for children in the Philippines declined by 25% during the COVID-19 pandemic. The DOH stressed that the program could greatly affect the country’s public health, especially concerning measles and polio.
Apart from the vaccination, the DOH said that it had also successfully distributed a total of 3,471,940 Vitamin A supplements.