Mayor Mauricio Domogan appealed to the public to avail of the on-going mass immunization against infectious diseases as measles cases continue to increase while the number of those availing of the vaccination campaign remained low.
The Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (CESU) of the City Health Services Office (CHSO) under City Health Officer Dr. Rowena Galpo said measles cases rose to 170 from January 1 to March 9 with no fatalities.
CESU Head Dr. Donnabel Tubera said the figure represents a 4,150 percent increase from the four cases recorded for the same period last year.
A report on the status of the on-going “Oplan Culex” mass immunization showed a low turn-out in the vaccination drive with only 9,443 children administered measles vaccines from Feb. 18 to March 12 out of the target population of 34,450 for a 27.41 percent accomplishment.
For Japanese encephalitis, a total of 6,267 availed for an 18.89 percent rating while 5,934 had oral polio vaccine (OPV) and 3,834 received Vitamin A supplementation.
The figure came from the different vaccination joints particularly the district health centers, SLU Hospital of the Sacred Heart Out-Patient Department, Baguio General Hospital Under-Five Clinic, private clinics and the Dept. of Health-Cordillera.
Galpo said they expect the number to increase in the remaining two weeks of the campaign as they stepped up measures by deploying medical teams to conduct house-to-house vaccination with augmentation personnel from the DOH-CAR and medical schools.
“Please avail of the mass immunization campaign because it is the only way we can protect our children from the serious effects of measles and other infectious diseases at no cost,” the mayor aired on Wednesday.
The campaign will run until March 31 with measles vaccines and Vitamin A available for children aged six to 59 months or below five years old and pre-school kids who are more than five years old but are not in grade school.
Oral polio vaccine can be given to children zero to 59 months old while the Japanese encephalitis immunization are for children nine to 59 months old. – Aileen P. Refuerzo