ILOILO City – The Department of Health (DOH) in Western Visayas assured the public its measles, rubella and oral polio vaccine supplemental immunization activity (MR-OPV-SIA) across the region will push through as scheduled.
This, as the regional office continues to address the COVID-19 infections among its employees.
According to Dr. Daphynie Teorima, DOH-6’s Child Health and National Immunization Program coordinator, preparatory activities for the campaign as well as technical assistance to local government units (LGUs) and other partners are ongoing through online platforms.
“We would like to clarify that despite the situation in our office, our preparations are ongoing. We are coordinating with our skeletal workforce for our preparatory activities such as monitoring local government and distributing our supplies,” said Teorima.
As of 6 p.m. on Wednesday, the number of DOH-6 personnel who tested positive for COVID-19 further rose to 22.
Meantime, 93 of the agency’s employees tested negative while 21 have pending results.
The DOH-6’s Development Management Offices (DMOs) also conducted onsite technical assistance and monitoring to ensure LGUs’ readiness relative to the immunization program.
Teorima said at least 770,279 children ages zero to 59 months old are the targets for free MR-OPV-SIA immunization this February.
Particularly, children aged nine to 59 months will be given measles and rubella vaccines while those zero to 59 months old will get the OPV.
She explained the target number provided by the DOH central office was based on the region’s projected population for 2020.
Teorima emphasized that the vaccines to be used have long been proven safe and effective.
“These are regulated commodities that undergo clinical trials. Our measles, rubella, and polio vaccines have been perfected since the 1930s,” Teorima said.
The regional office underscored that the mass immunization activity is necessary to forestall impending outbreak of measles, rubella and polio./PN
