An infectious disease expert on Tuesday stressed anew the importance of vaccination to vulnerable population, particularly the elderly.

In a media forum, Dr. Rontgene Solante explained that the populations in the country are “getting older faster than in the past.”

This, he furthered, could make it hard for countries to make sure their health and social systems are ready to take advantage of the change.

“The elderly population is more important nowadays and probably you will also look at why the [World Health Organization] is focusing on this group of population because we know that with several years now of tracking this age group, tumataas na po yung mga elderly population (The elderly population is rising),” Solante noted.

Citing a WHO data, Solante said that by 2050, 426 million people will be over 80 years old.

“Kaya nga sa bansa natin meron tayong (That’s why in our country we have) Senior Citizens Act and that’s to provide services and prioritize what should be made in order to prioritize our senior citizens at kasama doon ang pagbabakuna (and that includes vaccination),” he said.

Solante lamented low vaccination coverage among senior citizens.

“Tumataas ang elderly population ng ating bansa (The elderly population of our country is increasing) and we know that for them to age healthy, there are things that we need to emphasize,” he continued.

He pointed out diseases that the elderly populations are vulnerable to, such as heart diseases, asthma, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Vaccine-preventable diseases

Solante then cited that 90 percent of deaths from flu and pneumonia are in people older than 65.

“And we should focus on this na hindi sila magkakasakit doon sa tinatawag nating vaccine-preventable diseases (And we should focus on this that they will not get sick from what we call vaccine-preventable diseases),” he said.

“So we have to recognize ano ba tong vaccine-preventable diseases, ano bang benepisyo pag babakunahan itong vulnerable populations? Tandaan natin, tumatanda tayo mas higher ang vulnerability because of age and at the same time the presence of comorbidities (So we have to recognize what are these vaccine-preventable diseases, what are the benefits of vaccinating these vulnerable populations? Let's remember, the older we get, the higher the vulnerability because of age and at the same time the presence of comorbidities).”

Vaccines, Solante noted, such as Hepatitis B vaccines can also lower the risk of liver cancer, while HPV vaccine lowers the risk or cervical cancer. He added that flu vaccine also lowers the risk of heart attack and strokes.