Local governments in the southern parts of Metro Manila have started conducting a house-to-house vaccination drive after the Department of Health (DOH) declared a measles outbreak in several barangays (villages) in nine cities.
Last week, the DOH declared a measles outbreak in Quiapo, Sampaloc, Tondo, Binondo, Sta. Cruz, Port Area and Sta. Mesa in Manila; Dagat-Dagatan and Bagong Barrio in Caloocan City; Talon 5, Talon 2 and Pamplona Uno in Las Piñas; Longos and Tonsuya in Malabon; Alabang and Putatan in Muntinlupa; North Bay Boulevard South in Navotas; Moonwalk and Don Bosco in Parañaque; Bagong Tanyag in Taguig; and Ugong in Valenzuela.
In an interview, Las Piñas health officer Ferdinand Eusebio said they counted 79 cases in the city for 2013, with 23 of 30 barangay health centers reporting cases.
“We have been conducting [an] outbreak response immunization [drive], giving out vitamin A supplements and going from house to house to vaccinate children from six to 59 months,” Eusebio added.
The Muntinlupa City government has also been doing the same thing since December after the city reported a total of 42 cases with one fatality in the preceding months.
The house-to-house services are in addition to free vaccines already available at the Ospital ng Muntinlupa and in health centers, said public information officer Tez Navarro.
Meanwhile, the Taguig City government public information office said there were just eight cases reported last year in Barangay Lower Bicutan as it assured residents that the city health office would continue to provide free immunization.
City health officers from all over Metro Manila were called to an emergency meeting on Monday by the DOH regarding the sudden spike in the number of measles cases.
In December, the DOH said that last year’s cases went up by 616 percent with 1,724 confirmed cases nationwide from Jan. 1 to Dec. 14 compared to the same period in 2012. The National Capital Region accounted for 744 of those cases.
Eusebio, however, asked the public not to panic as he clarified that it takes just two cases, occurring within two weeks of each other and within 200 to 400 square meters of each other, for an outbreak to be declared in a community.
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