by Perla Lena/PNA
Parents’ fear of children’s immunization, as a result of the Dengvaxia scare, is now waning as evidenced by the high coverage of the supplemental immunization activity (SIA) initiated by the Department of Health (DOH) to arrest the spread of measles in Western Visayas.
DOH-Center for Health Development 6 (Western Visayas) Medical Officer III, Dr. Mary Jane Roches Juanico, said Friday that as of March 27, about 55 percent or 328,056 of the 595,023 target children from six months to 59 months had already been vaccinated.
Phase 1 of the SIA, which covered 32 local government units (LGUs), vaccinated 132,144 children while Phase 2, which involved 101 LGUs, was able to reach out to 134,823 children.
Meanwhile, the school-based catch-up vaccination was able to immunize 68,871 Grade 1 pupils and 36,610 Grade 7 students as of March 27.
Dr. Juanico said that those who refused shot in schools still expressed fear of vaccination due to the Dengvaxia scare.
“In the community, especially for less than six to 59 months old, because of the campaign that the risk is high for this age group when they are not vaccinated, parents are aggressive to have their children immunized,” she said.
Based on data, DOH is left with 336,467 children yet to be immunized in the region; 266,967 for the six to 59 months age group, 30,763 for Grade 1 and 38, 737 for Grade 7.
The target is 95 percent coverage to achieve a “very good herd immunity.”
“Hopefully, for the remaining days, we can achieve 80 percent if not 95 percent,” she said, adding that they are still harmonizing the data from the provinces showing an increasing trend in vaccination.
For the school-based immunization, Juanico hoped that those who were not covered will be reached through the community or LGU-based immunization.
DOH will end its measles outbreak response immunization by April 12 while the mop-op vaccination for the 101 LGUs will be from April 13 to 30.
Nonetheless, the DOH-CHD 6 data revealed that cases of measles in Western Visayas are on a decline.
As of March 28, the region has already registered 1,621 suspected cases with six deaths.
