UPCM-Mu Sigma Phi Medical Sorority conducts webinar on immunization

IN light of the Covid- 19 pandemic, the World Health Organization ( WHO) has provided guidelines for national immunization programs, which are considered by the Department of Health (DoH) in its recent interim guidelines for immunization services amid the health crisis.

To emphasize the critical role of immunization in preventing vaccine-preventable diseases, the University of the Philippines College of Medicine (UPCM)’s Mu Sigma Phi Medical Sorority (MSPS), the first recognized medical sorority in Asia, has organized a webinar series titled “Immunization in the Time of Pandemia.”

Part of the Covidgilance Webinar Series and in partnership with the sorority’s “Dr. Salvacion R. Gatchalian Memorial Webinar Lecture Series,” the Covidgilance lectures hope to inform the whole community regarding coronavirus and ways on how to prevent its spread and address the rampant spread of fake news and misinformation by promoting an educational campaign about the disease.

Infectious disease specialist and head of the PGH-Hospital Infection Control Unit Dr. Regina Berba discussed how vaccines kick start the production of antibodies to fight off infection and the significance of the childhood immunization series and flu and pneumonia shots in our adult lives. She cited how vaccine eliminated smallpox and saved the lived of as much as half a billion people.

The webinar was moderated by Dr. Sybil Lizanne Bravo, chief of the Division of OB-GYN Infectious Diseases, Department of OB-GYN at the Philippine General Hospital and Manila Doctors Hospital and attended virtually by 1,600 participants via UPCMMSPS’ digital platforms.

The webinar was co-organized by the City of Manila, UP College of Medicine, UP-Philippine General Hospital (PGH), Philippine Foundation for Vaccination, the Mu Sigma Phi Foundation, and health care company MSD in the Philippines.