Lawmakers seek nationwide vaccination, info drive vs polio

Lawmakers are asking the Department of Health (DOH) to conduct a comprehensive nationwide vaccination against polio and launch massive information campaign to prevent the further transmission and proliferation of the highly infectious viral disease.

Samar Rep. Edgar Mary Sarmiento and Lanao del Sur Rep. Yasser Alonto Balindong said the DOH should take all necessary measures to prevent the further transmission and proliferation of the crippling and potentially deadly infectious disease.

"There is an urgent and dire need to prevent the spread of this disease," Sarmiento said in filing House Resolution No. 376.

On September 19, 2019, the DOH declared a polio epidemic after it recorded a case of polio virus in Lanao del Sur.

Sarmiento noted that the last known case of polio virus was recorded in 1993 and widespread vaccination has since been conducted resulting in the Philippines being declared as polio-free in 2000.

"Terminating the current existence of the disease in

the country is not sufficient–the same shall likewise be prevented from ever recurring by employing all possible measures to hinder its recurrence and to educate the public about polio prevention, " he stressed.

A case of polio virus was confirmed on Sept. 16, 2019 in a threeyear old girl from Lanao del Sur and environmental samples from sewage in Metro Manila and waterways in Davao City were likewise confirmed to contain polio virus.

Balindong noted that the DOH sees low vaccination coverage, poor early surveillance of polio symptoms, and substandard sanitation practices as culprits in the reemergence of the polio virus.

"It is a fact that the Dengvaxia vaccine scare has caused a nationwide antipathy of any vaccine among parents of young children, which may aggravate the resurgence of polio among our young children," he said.

He filed House Resolution No. 364 urging the DOH to launch massive nationwide information campaign about the terrible effects of the polio virus and to convince parents to have their children immunized with the polio vaccine.

"Since immunization is the only way to prevent and eradicate the disease, the DOH needs to conduct information campaigns and vaccination in the whole country, especially in Lanao del Sur, where the polio virus has already infected one child," Balindong said.

Polio or Poliomyelitis mainly affects young children. The virus spreads from person to person, invading an infected person's nervous system and causing irreversible paralysis.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there is no cure for polio as it can only be prevented by immunization.