Catch-up vaccination to close immunity gap among kids

I LOILO Ci t y – T h e Department of Health (DOH) in Region 6 is expanding its catch- up immunization to other provinces of the region this May and June to close the wide gap for vaccinepreventable diseases for over 52,000 children below two years old.

“Our 2021 data has shown that our coverage is 64.36 percent. This is second to t he l owest since 2015, a remarkable decrease compared with our 2020 coverage ( 70.94 percent). There is an increased immunity gap that we have to close that is why we are doing our catch-up immunization,” said National Immunization Program (NIP) medical coordinator Dr. Daphynie Teorima in a virtual presser on Wednesday.

“Our accomplishment admittedly i s below the targeted because of the short notice to our LGUs ( local government units),” Teorima added.

Last year 94,317 of the 146,545 children targeted for the primary series vaccination have availed of the complete vaccination before reaching one year old.

This means that over 52,000 children below two years old in the region are at risk or can be spreaders of vaccine-preventable diseases.

In April, they already started the catch- up immunization called “Chikiting Bakuna” for 12,766 Iloilo children and 15, 628 in Negros Occidental.

For May and June, the catchup immunization program given will be carried out every last Thursday and Friday of the month.

The vaccination f or c h i l d r en will be done through fixed sites, modified fixed sites, or door- to- door depending on the strategy of the implementers.

Antigens t o i nclude BCG against tuberculosis, pentavalent, oral polio, inactivated polio, and measlesmumps-rubella vaccines will be provided to those who have not availed of the primary series.