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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Makati has highest polio vaccination rate in NCR

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Makati City achieved the highest coverage rate in the 14-day oral polio vaccination drive among 17 cities in Metro Manila.

A Department of Health report showed a total 52, 978 children aged zero to 59 months old in the city were vaccinated between October 14 to 27, or 106.76 percent of the city’s target population of 49,623 in the said age group.

The report also ranked Taguig City in second place with 105.91 percent coverage rate, while Quezon City placed third with 103.93 percent.

Makati Mayor Abby Binay said this development has put her mind at ease both as a local chief executive and as a mother. She thanked Makati residents, especially parents, for their full cooperation in the latest oral polio vaccination drive in Metro Manila.

“I am happy that our Makatizens have extended their full cooperation to the city government and had their children vaccinated against the polio virus. It is a simple but truly effective way to prevent a full resurgence of polio in the country,” Binay said.

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“Polio is no joke. It is a crippling and painful condition that we do not want our children to experience and bear for the rest of their lives. It may keep them from being happy, productive, and from leading normal lives,” she added.

Binay also reminded Makati residents that it is not only polio that can be prevented by timely vaccination. She encouraged parents to continue supporting vaccination campaigns and to religiously bring their children to the city’s health centers.

“Our children need to receive these vaccines at specific ages or periods during their childhood for their protection,” she said.

“We have gone to great lengths to ensure that these vaccines are available at our health centers. Most of the time, our diligent Makati Health Department staff even go house-to-house to make sure that our children are protected from these viruses. I continue to ask for your cooperation and appeal to your better judgment as parents and guardians to have your kids vaccinated – not just now because there’s a threat of polio outbreak – but all the time,” Binay added.

The city’s 26 health centers give the following free vaccines to infants and children aged 0 to 59 months: Hep B (at birth); BCG (at birth); PENTA Hib (6 weeks, 10 weeks, and 14th week); OPV (6 weeks, 10 weeks, and 14th week); IPV (14th week); MR at 9 months; and MMR at 1 year old.

These are followed by school-based immunization of MR (Kinder to Grade 7), TD (Grade 1 to 7), and HPV at Grade 4 (9 to 14 years old).

The synchronized polio vaccination ran for two weeks following reports of new polio cases in the Philippines.

The country was declared polio-free by the World Health Organization in 2000, but two new cases were confirmed in September following a dip in oral polio vaccination coverage. A third case has been confirmed by Health Secretary Francisco Duque last week from Datu Piang in the Province of Maguindanao.

The new cases have been confirmed to be from vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (VDPV2). The spread of both wild polio and vaccine-derived polioviruses can be prevented by a high vaccination rate, proper sanitation, and good hygiene.

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