DISEASE PREVENTION A barangay health worker gives a boy his vaccine shot against measles as the government’s mass vaccination campaign in the Bangasamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao reaches interior villages of Pagalungan town in Maguindanao del Sur on April 4. —PHOTO COURTESY OF RURAL HEALTH UNIT PAGALUNGAN
COTABATO CITY — The top Islamic religious leader in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) has assured Muslims that measles vaccines are safe and halal (allowed or lawful), and urged Muslim parents to have their children inoculated against the disease.
The appeal was aired by Bangsamoro Grand Mufti Abdulrauf Guialani as health authorities are battling with vaccine hesitancy in their continuing effort to administer the shots to as many children in the region that is facing a measles outbreak.
READ: DOH: Non-selective immunization drive vs measles in Mindanao
BARMM deputy health minister Qarneyn Abas said they mobilized more than 2,500 health workers, especially those based in the villages, for the massive vaccination campaign.
“Please allow your children to be vaccinated. I assure you that the vaccines are safe and halal, and the vaccination is allowed by Islam according to the study by Ulama (Islamic scholars),” said Guialani.
He said that Muslim religious leaders, after a thorough study and research, came up with a fatwa (edict) on vaccination in 2019.
“I ask our elders, parents to have their children vaccinated; this is safe, this is halal and this is for the good of our children,” Guialani said.
Abdulrauf Guialani—BANGSAMORO DARUL IFTA
Mass vaccination
To arrest the outbreak of measles in the region, the BARMM Ministry of Health (MOH) started a massive vaccination campaign on April 1, aiming to reach 1.3 million children vulnerable to the disease by April 15. But as of April 10, MOH recorded a total of only 232,880 children who received the antimeasles shots.
To date, a total of 848 measles cases had been reported in the region, with three resulting in deaths. Those under 5 years old and who are unvaccinated are the most affected.
READ: Measles outbreak declared in BARMM
The provinces of Maguindanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur and Sulu have the highest number of cases.
Now that the fasting month is over, health personnel are expected to go full swing in the program by doing house-to-house vaccinations from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., unlike during Ramadan when the administration of doses ended at noon. Health workers give children lollipops to make them feel at ease prior to being inoculated.
The massive vaccination campaign will end on May 10.
Measles is a highly contagious disease, spreading through the air, especially through coughing or sneezing. It affects all age groups but is more common in children. Its symptoms include high fever, cough, runny nose and a body rash.
The Department of Health in Northern Mindanao has deployed 100 medical staff to augment the BARMM’s medical personnel for the vaccination drive in Lanao del Sur.
Dr. Jasper Kent Ola, chief of the Regional Epidemiology Surveillance and Disaster Response Unit, said the deployed staff would also help in profiling the cases in the province.
According to Ola, a measles outbreak has also been reported in Baloi town in Lanao del Norte, which borders Lanao del Sur. Cases reported there account for 38 percent of the 100 cases in Northern Mindanao.