Nationwide vax drive begins today

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) is launching today a month-long nationwide drive to have children under five years old vaccinated against measles, rubella and polio.

“Makibahagi na sa malawakang pagbabakuna kontra polio, rubella at tigdas (Take part in the mass vaccination against polio, rubella and measles),” the DOH posted on Twitter yesterday.

The agency urged parents and guardians to have children vaccinated between May 1 and 31.

With the campaign dubbed “Chikiting Ligtas,” the DOH hopes to vaccinate over 11 million children below five years old.

DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said one of the agency’s “evergreen goals” is to protect children from vaccine-preventable diseases, including measles, rubella and polio.

“As a measure to provide them protection, we shall continue to prioritize vaccination through programs such as Chikiting Ligtas 2023,” Vergeire said in a previous statement.

Pediatric infectious disease expert Dr. Anna Ong-Lim noted that vaccines are necessary to shield children from vaccine-preventable diseases.

“During the pandemic, our immunization coverage decreased significantly,” Lim said in a media roundtable discussion on Friday.

She said the larger the number of unprotected children, the more sources of transmission there could be.

The DOH eyes 11,108,115 children 0-59 months for oral polio vaccination while 9,509,585 children 9-59 months are also being targeted for measles-rubella vaccines.

To better reach eligible children, vaccinators will do house-to-house immunization and local health centers shall be opened to provide routine vaccinations to the public, the DOH said.