At least 136 dead from measles outbreak in Philippines

Half of the victims aged 1 to 4, many of whom were not vaccinated

The Philippine health secretary said Monday that136 people, mostly children, have died of measles and 8,400 others have fallen ill in an outbreak blamed partly on vaccination fears. A massive immunization drive that started last week in hard-hit Manila and four provincial regions may contain the outbreak by April, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said. President Rodrigo Duterte warned in a TV message Friday of fatal complications and urged children to be immunized.

“No ifs, no buts, no conditions, you just have to bring your children and trust that the vaccines ... will save your children,” Duqu e said by telephone. “That’s the absolute answer to this outbreak.”

Infections spiked by more than 1,000 per cent in metropolitan Manila, the densely packed capital of more than 12 million people, in January compared to last year, health officials said. About half of the 136 who died were children aged 1 to 4 and many of those who perished were not inoculated, the officials said.

Duque said a government information drive was helping restore public trust in the government’s immunization program, which was marred in 2017 by controversy over an anti-dengue vaccine made by French drugmaker Sanofi Pasteur, which some officials linked to the deaths of at least three children.

Duque said about 130,000 of 450,000 people were inoculated in Manila in just one week.