Government vaccination program to get funding ‘booster shots’

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) will have a total of P7.54 billion for its national immunization program in 2020, Sen. Sonny Angara said.

When implemented, he pointed out, the program will administer vaccines for free to children, pregnant women, men and women in general.

Angara said about 2.7 million infants will be given vaccines against tuberculosis, hepatitis B, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, measles, rubella, influenza and polio. Two million of them will also be given flu shots.

The Department of Education will, once again, be part of the program to administer vaccines against tetanus, diphtheria, measles and rubella to 2.4 million Grade 1 and 1.9 million Grade 7 students.

Angara said at least 2.7 million pregnant women will be given anti-tetanus vaccines. At least two million flu shots and 500,000 units of pneumonia vaccines will be made available for the elderly.

The senator also said that the DOH, which reportedly has a budget of P650 million for advertising, could rechannel its budget allocation if the program would need more funds for vaccination.

He noted other developments or health crisis that the DOH has to take into account, such as the outbreak of dengue and polio that requires additional funding to be addressed properly.

The proposed P160 billion budget of the DOH has already been taken up at the committee level and will be subject to further scrutiny during plenary debates on the 2020 national budget next month.

During the plenary debates, senators would be allowed to introduce their respective amendments, which could mean augmenting or reducing particular items in the proposed budgets of the different agencies.