GET BABIES JABBED A mother holds her baby for inoculation at the San Juan City Hall. —LYN RILLON
The World Health Organization (WHO) has called on governments in the Western Pacific region to intensify their catch-up immunization, bringing vaccination efforts to the doorsteps of children, amid the outbreak of pertussis (whooping cough) and measles in different parts of the world, including the Philippines.
In a press briefing on Friday at its regional headquarters in Manila, Dr. Saia Ma’u Piukala, WHO regional director for the Western Pacific (WP), said it was “alarming” that at least a million children in the region had not received any single dose of vaccine due to the immunization gap that happened from 2020 to 2022 due to mobility restrictions brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.
READ: Whooping cough: It’s not just a cough
“The Philippines is among the top five countries in the world for zero-dose children. So we have to ramp up routine vaccination plus do outreach campaigns,” said Dr. Rajendra Yadav, WHO regional coordinator for integrated communicable diseases.
In the Philippines, infants (aged 1 and younger) are mandated to be given free immunization by the government to protect them from the following vaccine-preventable diseases: tuberculosis; diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis; poliomyelitis; measles; mumps; rubella or German measles; hepatitis B; H. influenza type B (HIB).
Numbers still low
The WHO reported that the Philippines has already reduced the number of unvaccinated children between 2021 and 2022 from around 1 million to 637,000 children for those born within 2022. However, by 2023, only 59.3 percent of the almost 2.2 millions infants (aged 1 and younger) were fully vaccinated—far from the target of 95-percent immunization coverage.
READ: Pertussis: How to protect yourself, loved ones
“Right now, the main concern of WHO is addressing the current issue that we are facing now with measles and whooping cough that is escalating at the moment,” Piukala said.
“We have advised all member states to strengthen routine immunization not only for measles, but for all vaccinations that were neglected during the COVID-19 pandemic,” he added.
Regional and local governments in the country declared outbreaks due to the surge of pertussis and measles cases mostly among unvaccinated children. Both of these diseases had been controlled and nearly eliminated in the past due to the country’s high vaccination rates.
Measles outbreak
The Department of Health (DOH) reported that as of March 23, a total of 862 cases of pertussis have been recorded since the start of the year—a 30-fold increase compared with the same period last year. Forty-nine patients infected with the disease had died.
Meanwhile, a measles outbreak has been declared in Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) after the region logged 1,481 or 56 percent of the 2,661 cases recorded nationwide from September to March.
WHO country representative Dr. Rui Paulo de Jesus said that following their coordination with the DOH, the Bangsamoro health ministry, and local officials, over 4,500 vaccinators were deployed to the region.
As of April 4, a total of 232,890 children aged 6 months to 10 years old have received a vaccine against measles—translating to 17 percent of the target to immunize 1.3 million children.