DESPITE challenges in convincing parents to vaccinate their children, the City Health Office (CHO) hopes it can reach the 95 percent target for Cagayan de Oro City’s measles and polio vaccination coverage.
“For the period of May 2 to June 4, 2023, we administered measles-rubella vaccines to 47,601 or 75.6 percent of the 63,248 targets. For bivalent polio vaccination, we vaccinated 56,523 or 76.42 percent of the targeted 73,964 children aged zero to 59 months. The Department of Health (DOH) mandated a 95 percent coverage,” CHO immunization program coordinator Dr. Ina Grace Chiu said.
During Monday’s Covid-19 response and health briefing, Dr. Chiu said the DOH approved a June 15 extension for local governments to implement its nationwide ‘Chikiting Ligtas’ measles and polio vaccination program.
“We’re still looking out for 15,647 children aged nine to 59 months who have yet to receive the measles-rubella vaccine and 17,441 children for the bivalent oral polio vaccine,” Dr. Chiu said.
Dr. Chiu said the vaccination campaign was supposed to end on May 31.
“Again, we repeat that children aged zero to 59 months can receive the bivalent oral polio vaccine (BOPV) while nine to 59 months can receive the measles-rubella vaccine,” she said.
Dr. Chiu also urged the public to contact their vaccination hotline at 0995-589-6020 for questions on City Hall’s vaccination programs.
When asked about problems in meeting their vaccination targets, Dr. Chiu admitted that the target population target set by the DOH for them is based on their projections.
“If we base on our actual population, there are discrepancies hence we are trying to locate more children aged zero to 59 months. So if we base on the actual number of children per barangay, the DOH projection is high,” she said.
Dr. Chiu said it’s also true that some parents refuse to vaccinate their children for several reasons.
“They claim that their children were already vaccinated or they got sick from vaccination and so on. We respect their decisions but our vaccines are added protection for their children,” she said.
City Health Officer Dr. Rachel Dilla said the low vaccination coverage is prevalent nationwide.
“That’s why there had been outbreaks of measles and polio in some parts of the country. This is a nationwide problem so the DOH campaign is meant to boost the immunity of our children from measles and polio. Not all children who receive the initial dose develop a high resistance to these diseases hence the DOH campaign is meant to ensure added protection for them,” Dr. Dilla said. (Stephen Capillas of City Information Office)
