BACOLOD City – To protect children from infectious diseases, particularly pertussis, the City Health Office (CHO) targets inoculating more than 10,000 children here.
Medical Officer III Jevi Marie Ortoño, CHO’s National Immunization Program Medical Coordinator, encouraged parents and guardians to have their children vaccinated, especially those under one year old.
Pertussis, also known as whooping cough, is a highly contagious and fatal respiratory disease among infants or children.
Ortoño said pertussis is hard to diagnose without laboratory confirmation because its initial manifestations resemble other respiratory illnesses and the patient may not even have a fever. Based on the CHO record, the vaccination rate in the city is lower than its annual target of 95 percent.
Ortoño explained that the target in 2023 is supposedly more than 11,000 children, but only 60 percent were fully vaccinated because some parents refused.
The medical officer cited that among the reasons were parents assuming their children may get sick once they get the shots, parents not being available during the vaccination schedule due to work, and because of religion./PN
