BACOLOD City – The City Health Office’s (CHO) Measles-Rubella-bivalent Oral Poliomyelitis Vaccine (MR-bOPV) Supplemental Immunization Activity (SIA) targets to inoculate 95 percent of the city’s children from May 1 to 31.
Across 61 barangays, 50,081 children are being eyed for measles-rubella vaccination and 58,394 for oral polio vaccination.
The immunization activity specifically targets children aged nine to 59 months for measles-rubella and zero to 59 months for polio.
Measles is a highly contagious viral disease. Its virus is transmitted via droplets from the nose, mouth or throat of infected persons.
Initial symptoms, which usually appear between 10 and 12 days after infection, include a high fever, a runny nose, bloodshot eyes, and tiny white spots on the inside of the mouth. Several days later, a rash develops, starting on the face and upper neck and gradually spreading downward.
Persons exhibiting symptoms must immediately seek treatment in public health centers or hospitals.
Meanwhile, polio is an illness caused by a virus that mainly affects nerves in the spinal cord or brain stem, according to the Mayo Clinic. In its most severe form, polio can lead to a person being unable to move certain limbs or paralysis. It can also lead to troubled breathing, and sometimes death. The disease is also called poliomyelitis.
Most people infected with the virus that causes polio, called poliovirus, don’t get symptoms. About five percent of people with the poliovirus get a mild version of the disease called abortive poliomyelitis. This leads to flu-like symptoms that last two to three days. These include fever, headache, muscle aches, sore throat, stomachache, loss of appetite, nausea, and vomiting.
CHO sanitation inspector IV and health education and promotion officer, Jamaica Gail Isidto, said to achieve this target, the campaign began as early as this month using the recorida and through radio and social media.
“The CHO is encouraging the public to prioritize the immunization of their children against vaccine-preventable diseases to avoid an outbreak,” said Isidto.
The MR-bOPV SIA is a nationwide program spearheaded by the Department of Health and dubbed “Chikiting Ligtas sa dagdag bakuna kontra polio, rubella at tigdas”, in cooperation with Healthy Pilipinas, the United Nations Children’s Fund, and the World Health Organization./PN
