DOH: ‘Zero dose’ kids may cause outbreaks of other vaccine-preventable diseases

Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa —Noy Morcoso/INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

The Department of Health (DOH) warned on Thursday of possible outbreaks of other vaccine-preventable diseases in different parts of the country due to low immunization coverage and the high number of children who skipped routine shots.

Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa was particularly wary of spikes in cases of diphtheria, tetanus and Haemophilus influenzae B disease, on top of the ongoing outbreaks of measles and pertussis and the growing number of hepatitis B patients.

READ: 8M jabs coming as DOH sees more pertussis, measles outbreaks

“We have not achieved herd immunity because many of our children remain unvaccinated. These children, who are not protected from different diseases, will be the ones to infect each other, causing more outbreaks,” he said in a media briefing.

Under the National Immunization Program of the DOH, newborns may get their three-dose primary pentavalent (5-in-1) shots at six weeks, 10 weeks and 14 weeks in barangay health centers for free.

This vaccine protects children from five life-threatening diseases, namely diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, hepatitis B and Haemophilus influenzae type B.

The DOH reported that only 72 percent of the 2 million children below 1 year old were fully immunized—way below the target of 95 percent to achieve herd immunity.

WHO flags PH

The World Health Organization has also flagged the Philippines for being among the top five countries with the highest number of children receiving no vaccines, estimated at 1 million.

“It is shameful that we have many zero-dose children. Other countries are wary of us because we could be a source of an outbreak in other parts of the world,” Herbosa said.

READ: More pentavalent vaccine doses coming soon – DOH

The DOH secretary again appealed to parents to get their children vaccinated.

“Vaccines are safe and effective in preventing these diseases. We have seen how vaccines protected many children,” he said. “If we do not get our children immunized, we will have more and worse outbreaks of these vaccine-preventable diseases.”

Many parents, however, complained that barangay health centers in their area did not have pentavalent vaccines.

Herbosa said there was still an adequate supply “but we are having issues in the distribution of the doses.” He assured the public that the DOH was working on the problem.