BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
ILOILO City – The mass immunization for measles and polio starts on Sept. 1 and the Provincial Health Office (PHO) is prioritizing 2,427 high-risk zones (puroks).
There are 4,705 puroks in Iloilo province. Some of these are Geographically Isolated and Disadvantaged Areas (GIDA), said Dr. Patricia Grace Trabado, provincial health officer.
“The immunization must not miss any child. Our health workers will be reaching every purok, even the GIDA areas,” said Trabado.
Considered high-risk are areas affected by natural disasters, resettlement areas, those with squatters, areas with measles case or other vaccine-preventable diseases in the past 12 months, and those that boarders high-risk communities.
Trabado said all puroks in the 5th District of Iloilo are high-risk because the district was battered by super typhoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) November last year.
The mass vaccination runs throughout September. The objective is to totally eliminate measles, reduce cases of rubella and keep the Philippines polio-free.
Regardless of their previous immunization status, every child aged from nine months to below five years old will get a dose of measles/German measles vaccine while those zero to below five years old will get two drops of oral polio vaccine.
There are a total of 257 laboratory-confirmed cases of measles in Western Visayas last year.
According to Dr. Sofia Pulmones, Department of Health Region 6’s Local Health Support Division chief, the province of Aklan had the most number of confirmed cases at 192, followed by Capiz with 17, Bacolod City with 14, Iloilo with 10, Negros Occidental with nine, Antique with six, Iloilo City with five and Guimaras with four./PN
