Aggressive campaign The Department of Health-Davao is working hard to prevent measles outbreak in the region. File Photo

The Department of Health (DoH) on Saturday disclosed that measles cases in the country had reached almost 7,000 already from 1 January to 13 February of this year.

Among of this numbers, there were 115 reported deaths from the disease.

DoH Secretary Francisco Duque III, in a statement, said the measles cases in the country numbered 6,921 for that period and Metro Manila had the highest number of cases at 1,752, representing 25 percent of the total cases.

He also revealed that in Region IV-A, 1,653 cases were already reported, representing 24 percent of the total number of cases while Region III follows with 282 cases, representing 14 percent of the total number of cases.

The Health secretary also stressed that he is continuing his rounds in areas with measles cases following his meeting on Friday with city health officers of Metro Manila, saying that they committed to help address the measles outbreak.

He also said San Lazaro Hospital — the referral center for infectious diseases — exposed 70 percent of measles patients are from Metro Manila while the remaining patients come from Bulacan, Cavite and other provinces.

Duque added the DoH is conducting mapping activities, going house to house, to determine which communities have the most number of measles cases. They are encouraging parents to have their children vaccinated.

He said the targeted for immunization are seven million grade schoolers from kindergarten to Grade 6 who have yet been vaccinated or have received the measles vaccine but have not had the second dose. The immunization program also targets preschoolers and those outside of the ages mentioned.

Meanwhile, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) on Saturday said it wants the measles outbreak in the country solved earlier than projected.

In a radio interview, NDRRMC spokesman Edgar Posadas said that they will extend a helping hand to the DoH in the monitoring and surveillance of measles cases.

“We were assured by the DoH that everything is manageable,” Posadas said.

Posadas added as of Friday, there were 1,383 measles cases monitored in Regions III, Calabarzon, VI, VII and Metro Manila. Of the total measles cases monitored, 22 resulted in deaths.

The DoH earlier had taken note that there had been a drop in the measles immunization coverage due to the decline of public confidence in the government’s vaccination program following the controversy over Dengvaxia for dengue fever.

Public Attorney’s Office chief Attorney Persida Acosta, who has been at the forefront in filing complaints against officials who had been supposedly involved in the Dengvaxia mess, said the decline of public trust on vaccines should not be blamed on them.

Some 2.6 million Filipino children are at risk of contracting measles, as many families guard their little ones from the outbreak, the World Health Organization said Friday evening.

In a radio interview, Maricel Castro, technical officer of the WHO’s expanded program on immunization, noted that many children, especially those under the age of 5, have not received vaccination.

She said the number is from the WHO’s five-year study on measles cases.