Davao health office conducts mass vaccination amid rise in measles cases

DAVAO CITY—The City Health Office (CHO) said it has been conducting massive vaccination of children aged 0-5 years old after the agency has monitored a resurgence of cases of measles since November.

Dr. Josephine Villafuerte, the CHO, said for the first 12 days of this month alone, they have already monitored 68 cases.

She said the 68 new cases monitored between Jan. 1-12 had caused the number of people affected by measles to increase to 222, as recorded here since November.

Villafuerte said most of the cases were monitored in urban Davao, meaning more people are infected in areas of the city where population is high.

Villafuerte said among the cases recorded during the first 12 days of the year were mostly call center agents where 16 were infected.

She said those found positive were advised not to report for work to prevent infecting the illness to others.

As a result of the rising number of measles cases, she said the CHO decided to conduct an “Outbreak Response Immunization” or ORI.

“We decided to immediately conduct the ORI because children are the most vulnerable ones in times of measles outbreak. We intend to cover the entire city to ensure that the children are safe and protected,” she said.

Villafuerte said that to date, health workers had already vaccinated more than 6,000 children under the ORI.

She said the vaccination program was being conducted in all of the city’s 182 barangays.

Villafuerte admitted that the measles virus, which affects the respiratory system, is highly contagious.

“A single case of measles can potentially lead to an outbreak (if not immediately addressed) given the highly infectious nature of the virus,” Villafuerte said.

If left untreated, measles can also cause deaths, according to medical journals. /jpv