Duterte wants ‘vigorous’ campaign for immunization program

PREDIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has sought a “vigorous” campaign to encourage parents to immunize their children to protect them from deadly diseases, Malacañang said on Thursday, February 7.

Duterte gave the directive during his meeting with Cabinet officials held at Malacañan Palace on Wednesday, February 6.

“The Department of Health’s (DOH) immunization program was likewise tackled. The President ordered a vigorous campaign to promote the complete immunization for children,” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a statement.

Duterte’s order came following the announcement of the DOH that there is an outbreak of highly contagious measles in Metro Manila and Central Luzon.

The rise in measles cases came amid public’s eroded trust in the government’s immunization program because of the controversy involving Dengvaxua vaccine, which was blamed for the deaths of some Filipino children.

Following the Dengvaxia controversy, immunization coverage in 2018 slid to 40 percent from at least 70 percent in the last few years, the DOH earlier revealed.

On January 29, Duterte called on parents to submit their children to vaccination to prevent them from getting infected with contagious diseases. (SunStar Philippines)

FRIENDS, PARTNERS AND ALLIES. US Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim (center) answers reporters after his welcome message at the Conference on The Future of the US-Philippines Bilateral Relationship held at Rigodon Room of The Peninsula Manila in Makati City on Thursday (Feb. 7, 2019). The conference tackled the 67-year-old Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) between Washington and Manila. Beside Kim is Undersecretary Emilio A. Manalo of the Department of Foreign Affairs. (PNA)