DOH fears outbreak of measles disease in CV

target, the DOH-7 head directed the health workers on the ground not to wait for parents or guardians to visit the health centers.

Instead, they have to hop from one household to the other to make sure that not a single child is missed.

“The message has been very clear, our vaccines has been [used] for 50 to 60 years. And these have already been proven safe that is why we have to give this to our children. We should not deprive our children to receive all these. If you look at around us, all of us (older age group) received the same vaccines,” he advised parents.

The decades-old immunization program of the agency has been marred by the Dengvaxia issue. Dengvaxia is the brand of the world’s first dengue vaccine that was just introduced to the country in 2016.

It went controversial when the manufacturer itself admitted that it might pose risk to people without prior infection.

Bernadas said the measles vaccines are different and these have been used for decades already and have been proven safe. He said parents must refrain from being misguided and should rather look after their child’s protection.

He said health workers continue to reeducate the heads of the families of the advantages of the measles vaccines, enough for them to be convinced.

Health authorities earlier warned that measlesinfected individuals may suffer from severe complications, such as pneumonia and encephalitis. It also affects the growth and development of an infected child.

Measles is a highly contagious disease, said DOH-7 medical officers, wherein an infected person can transmit the disease to at least 20 individuals in a single day.

This year, measles cases skyrocketed to more than 500 percent if compared to last year’s figures.

Tri-cities Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu are identified by DOH-7 as among the localities in the region with the most number of measles patients.