ZAMBOANGA CITY –– The City Health Office (CHO) has extended the conduct of the school-based immunization program until October 31, this year.
Corazon Pagotaisidro, CHO immunization program coordinator, on Monday said they extended the program to enable them to immunize all the target population of students.
Pagotaisidro said there are still 24,765 students that remain un-immunized due to the refusal and some concerns of parents.
Pagotaisidro said of the total un-immunized students, 10,918 of them are enrolled in Grade 1; 4,727 in Grade 4; and, 9,120 in Grade 7. She said there are 51,663 students up for immunization in the upper three grade levels.
She said Grades 1 and 7 students are to be immunized with Tetanus Diphtheria (TD) and Measles Rubella (MR) vaccines while Grade 4 female students will get the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines.
The school-based immunization, held once a year, started on August 15 and was supposed to end on September 30.
Pagotaisidro said that the issue on Dengvaxia remains the reason why the parents are hesitant to allow their children to be immunized.
“Without the parents consent, the health care workers cannot give the vaccine to the school children,” Pagotaisidro said.
She said the health workers will undertake house to house campaign to convince the parents to have their children immunized.
Un-immunized children are at high risk and prone to diseases, she explained. (R. G. Antonet Go/PNA)
