Reelectionist Sen. Sonny Angara has called for a more aggressive immunization campaign to ensure that life-saving vaccines reach as many Filipino children as possible.
“We need to be more aggressive in ensuring that every Filipino child receives vaccines to protect them against preventable illnesses. We have to make sure that our immunization program reaches even the hardest to reach child,” Angara said.
The senator issued the statement after the United Nations Children’s Fund reported that at least 2.9 million children in the Philippines remained unvaccinated, making them vulnerable to potentially deadly infections like measles, rubella, and polio.
According to UNICEF, measles immunization coverage in the country has declined to 73 percent in 2017 from 88 percent in 2013. Last year, the immunization coverage further went down to less than 70 percent, or way below the 95 percent required for population immunity.
The UN agency cited public hesitancy, vaccine stock-outs, lack of properly trained health workers and accessibility of hard-to-reach areas as the main reasons why many Filipino children have failed to get immunization.
Angara said the government needs to step up its information campaign on the benefits of vaccination program to include the use of the door-to-door approach in far-flung areas to provide parents with personalized immunization information.
“It is vital to identify those who are missing vaccination and reach them with life-saving vaccines,” said the lawmaker from Aurora.
“Improving vaccination coverage is the key to reducing diseases and deaths among children,” he added.
Aside from measles, the country’s mandatory basic immunization covers tuberculosis, polio, hepatitis B, type B influenza, diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis.
