Ejercito urges parents to have their children vaccinated

SEN. Jose Victor “JV” Ejercito appealed to all parents to have their children vaccinated against infectious diseases in the wake of the measles outbreak that had claimed lives, mostly children, in the country.

Ejercito issued the call following the Department of Health’s (DoH) confirmation of a measles outbreak in the country, particularly in the National Capital Region and Central Luzon.

Ejercito, chairman of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography, stressed the importance of vaccines to avert possible ill effects of communicable diseases.

“Children and pregnant women who remain unvaccinated are the most prone and are really at the highest risk of acquiring measles… this could result to long-term complication and, even worse, death,” Ejercito said.

The lawmaker said vaccines against infectious diseases are administered free in barangay health centers, urging the public to bring all suspected cases to the nearest health facility for early treatment.

He also called on the medical community, including medical schools and the public in general, to launch a heightened awareness campaign on the importance of vaccination for measles and other vaccine- preventable diseases.

Measles is an airborne disease that infects the respiratory tract, and its complications include severe diarrhea, pneumonia, blindness and even death.

DoH said that the Philippines saw a four-fold jump in measles cases from 4,000 cases in 2017 to 21,000 cases last year.

Such increase was attributed to the Dengvaxia scare, which eroded Filipinos’ trust in vaccines.