The World Health Organization (WHO) maintained that the coronavirus disease is here to stay.

"If you're all aware, COVID-19 is here in the region to stay," WHO Regional Director Saia Ma'u Piukala said during a media briefing on Friday.

Piukala, however, said the focus now should be on vaccine-preventable diseases which are on the rise again--pertussis and measles.

"During the COVID-19, the concentration of every country was on vaccination and immunization on COVID-19. That has settled for now," Piukala said.

"The main issue, the main concern of WHO now is what I've mentioned about measles and pertussis that are right here with us at the moment," he added.

He explained that during the COVID-19 pandemic, routine immunization "was sort of neglected," prompting the rise of vaccine-preventable diseases and forcing some local governments to declare localized outbreaks.

"The immunity gap is getting wider and wider on routine immunization, plus after the pandemic, was the outbreak of measles so it poses a risk on other countries with the traveling," Piukala noted.

"Right now the main concern of the WHO Regional Office is addressing the emergency or the current issue that we are facing now with measles and whooping cough that is escalating at the moment," he said.

He, however, stressed that vaccines and immunization are still "the answer."

Actions vs measles, pertussis

To address measles, Dr. Rui Paulo de Jesus, WHO representative in the Philippines, said the government was able to mobilize 4,579 vaccinators in the Bangsamoro Region.

"As of yesterday, we are able to vaccinate children from six months old to less than 10 years old. The number is 232,890, which represents 17 percent of the target population," de Jesus said.

The target population to be immunized against measles is around 1.3 million in the Bangsamoro Region alone, according to de Jesus.

"So we continue to work with the Department of Health at the central level as well at the subnational, including BARMM and municipality level and at the national level," he added.

The Bangsamoro Region declared on 21 March a measles outbreak across the region.

Lanao del Sur was the hardest-hit province in the region, amounting to 37 percent of its measles cases.

Meanwhile, in a bid to counter pertussis, three million more "pentavalent" vaccine doses are arriving in the country "at the soonest possible time," according to DOH.

Pentavalent vaccines protect not only against pertussis, but also against diphtheria, tetanus, hepatitis B, and hemophilus influenza type B.