Tuesday, the Department of Health (DOH) warned about an approaching measles outbreak due to the low vaccination rate among Filipino youngsters.
DOH chief Maria Rosario Vergeire said they met with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). They discovered that almost three million children in the country are susceptible to measles.
“Lahat po ng mga bata naman na hindi naka-receive ng kahit na anong doses ng measles vaccine, kasi dalawang beses po ‘yan binibigay sa ating mga kabataan, ay nasa almost 3 million na na mga kabataan,” she said.
“Kaya po nagfa-flag at nagwa-warn po ang WHO at UNICEF sa atin na kailangan nating paigtingin ang routine immunization [the WHO and UNICEF are flagging and warning us that we need to intensify routine immunization] because there might be an impending outbreak of measles in the country by next year if we are not going to do anything,” she added.
Dr. Jose Rene de Grano, president of the Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines, Inc. (PHAPI), stated on Monday that measles and typhoid fever are on the uptick during the third quarter of the year.
Measles outbreak possible in 2023 due to low immunization – DOH
Vergeire stated that the Department of Health met with its administering units to increase vaccination programs in the country to solve this issue.
“‘Yung measles vaccine, ito po ‘yung pinakahuli na antigen or ‘yung bakuna na binibigay sa mga bata para masabi nating fully immunized child siya. So with this, mababa,” she said.
“Ang atin pong pool of susceptible na mga bata na wala pang kahit isang mga bakuna or zero dose pa lang sila dito sa ating bansa for these past two years of the pandemic, is almost 1 million,” she continued.
Vergeire reported that only 62.9% of children in the country are fully vaccinated, which is much below the government’s goal of 95%.
The health official ascribed the country’s poor routine immunization coverage to parental vaccine reluctance and COVID-19 lockdowns that prevented them from vaccinating their children.
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