By Perla Lena/PNA
ILOILO CITY – The Department of Health-Center for Health Development (DOH-CHD) in Western Visayas is banking on the support of local government units (LGUs) for the success of its vaccination program.
“Maybe we are looking into logistical factors and even support at policy at the ground level to really implement the immunization program,” said Dr. Mary Jane Roches Juanico, DOH-CHD 6 medical coordinator for the child health program, in an interview on Monday.
The result of the 2017 National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) recently showed that only 67 percent of children age 12 to 23 months have received all the basic vaccinations.
Juanico, however, said “we are expecting supposedly that our children should be covered 95 percent”.
“This is why we are seeing pockets of outbreaks for various vaccine preventable diseases, most especially measles,” she said.
Basic vaccination includes one dose of the BCG vaccine that provides immunity or protection against tuberculosis; three doses of the DPT vaccine against diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), and tetanus; three doses of polio vaccine (IPV or OPV); and one dose of the MMR vaccine against measles, mumps, and rubella.
Over time, she said, vaccination coverage has declined. The survey was taken even before issues on the vaccination program cropped up.
“In terms of support, maybe local governments can augment for additional human resource, additional logistical support, not vaccines but other logistics that are needed for immunization at the same time policy for really implementing immunization program,” Juanico pointed out.
She said that there is a need to track clients (one-on-one) but they don’t have enough manpower to undertake the monthly tracking.
There are even parents who refuse to show their children’s immunization, thus, it would be better if they can be tracked, Juanico said.
“We already have through the RDC (Regional Development Council ) a resolution enjoining all local government units to implement and strengthen the provision of the vaccination program. However, during monitoring, we have seen that most of these policies were not adopted and if they did, were not fully implemented,” she said.
The program coordinator also encouraged public private partnership in the recording and reporting of children covered with the vaccination.
