Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong ordered all public and private pre-school and elementary schools until Grade 7 to comply with the school-based immunization program of the Dept. of Health (DOH) to ensure the eradication of vaccine-preventable diseases in the city.
In Executive Order No. 30-19, the mayor noted the low immunization coverage in the city which makes the children susceptible to diseases and risks the development of outbreaks and epidemics despite the availability of free, potent and high quality vaccines.
In his order, the mayor directed the continuation of measles outbreak response vaccination and the regular school-based immunization to all eligible schoolchildren from pre-school to Grade 7 as per Department of Education Memorandum 08-0518-0181.
He said the achievement of 95 percent fully immunized schoolchildren rests on the “unified commitments of the national government, local government unit, school heads, health workers, communities, parents and all sectors of society.”
He also ordered the mobilization of the city government, school boards, school heads and other sectors to support the program and spelled out the tasks of the implementing agencies – the DOH Center for Health Development Cordillera as lead agency, the Department of Education Division of Baguio and the city government through the Health Services Office and the Parents, Teachers and Community Association.
“Since the year 2000, Baguio City has recorded five measles outbreak, the recent was during the first quarter of 2019,” the mayor said