ANTIQUE – The search for children yet to avail themselves of vaccination under the Measles-Rubella and Oral Polio Vaccine Supplemental Immunization Activity (MR-OPV SIA) is ongoing in the province.
Vaccinators have to locate 16,677 children aged nine to 59 months to reach 95 percent coverage for the MR and 29,431 children aged zero to 59 months for the OPV.
Irene Duldoco, Antique Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO) information officer, said health workers in the 18 municipalities of the province conduct rapid coverage monitoring (RCM) with the extension of the SIA for another 15 days.
“Since the MR-OPV SIA has been extended from June 1 to 15, we are maximizing our time now to reach out to other children,” she said in dialect.
Of the 58,472 children targeted for the MR vaccine, 38,871 children, or 66.48 percent, have been inoculated since the start of the campaign on May 2, said Dulduco.
Also, 35,491, or 51.93 percent, of the 68,339 target children were given the OPV in the same period.
“Through RCM, the health workers will be reviewing their master list of targeted children so they can visit those who have not been immunized during the MR-OPV SIA in the barangays,” Duldoco said.
She added that children who turn nine months old within the extension period will also be provided with the OPV.
“With the extension of the MR-OPV SIA, we will make sure that there will be no missed child,” Duldoco said. (PNA)/PN
