In Taguig City, children’s health and welfare is a priority. This was proven by the city’s preparedness and immediate compliance to Department of Health’s school-based immunization (SBI) program— making Taguig the first local government unit in the National Capital Region to implement the program for this year.
The program “Back to Bakuna: School-Based Immunization Kick-off Activity” was held at Signal Village National High School on June 24. Taguig’s school-based immunization program is a strategy where government medical personnel visit public schools to provide free vaccination services to students.
For this year, more than 19,000 pupils and educators are set to be immunized by the local government as part of its yearly SBI, and as of May 2019, 6,087 of them have already been vaccinated. Last year, 14,960 schoolchildren and teachers were fully immunized under the school-based immunization program of the city.
Under its school-based immunization program, the City Health Office offers Measles, Rubella, Tetanus, and Diphtheria (MRTD) vaccines to Grades 1 and 7 pupils while human papillomavirus (HPV) doses were given to Grade 4 and Grade 5 students.
According to Dr. Jennifer Lou De Guzman, the National Immunization Program director for Taguig, orientations were done for school nurses so they could properly answer queries of parents on vaccines during assemblies.
“Taguig City believes that our kababayan’s health serves as the backbone of our community that’s why we do not stop educating our parents about the importance of getting their children and themselves immunized,” she explained.
Taguig currently offers free vaccinations in its barangay health centers. These include BCG vaccine, Hepatitis B vaccine, Pentavalent vaccine or 5-in-1 vaccine, HIB (Haemophilus influenza type) vaccine, DTP (Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis) vaccine, Oral poliovirus vaccine, and Pneumococcal vaccines for senior citizens.
In his message during the Back to Bakuna event in the city, Mayor Lino Cayetano highlighted the importance of the cooperation of the City Health Office, the Department of Health and the Department of Education in advancing health programs in the city.
“This Back to Bakuna program is one example of the cooperation of these agencies to ensure that our children are healthy,” he said.
The city government is also encouraging its residents to take advantage of the free vaccination services offered at schools instead of going to a private clinic where the same services may cost them P1,000 up to P18,000 depending on the number of doses.
In coordination with the DOH and Department of Interior and Local Government, Taguig City recently hosted the Parents Forum: Protected Together-Vaccines Work held at the Lakeshore Hall in Barangay Lower Bicutan last June 20. It served as a venue to increase the awareness of the benefits of vaccination among parents.
Last November, the DOH-NCR’s HPV School-Based Immunization was officially launched in Taguig City to help protect women from cervical cancer. Under the program, 6,000 Grade 4 schoolgirls were targeted to receive the HPV vaccine.
In addition to the achievements of Taguig in the area of health, the city government also has a 130% accomplishment when it comes to Outbreak Response Immunization activity. Moreover, even without the measles outbreak within Taguig, the city continues to immunize its residents all year round.
More than 4,000 pneumococcal vaccinations were also given to senior citizens, fisherfolk, vendors and local transport sectors during their Bida sa Kalusugan event last January.