School-based vaccination paying off — WHO, UNICEF

On World Polio Day, 24 October, the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF Philippines commended the Philippine government for reducing the number of children without a single dose of vaccines in the country.

UNICEF Philippines also lauded the success of the school-based immunization program to vaccinate 4.8 million Filipino kids enrolled in public schools against measles, rubella, tetanus, diphtheria, and human papillomavirus.

From 2020 to 2022, the Philippines was the fifth country in the world with the highest number of zero-dose or unvaccinated children at one million.

Recent WHO and UNICEF data showed that the country is no longer part of the top 20 countries with the most zero-dose children, having reduced it from one million to 163,000.

“UNICEF commends the Philippine government’s steadfast dedication to leave no child behind. Its decisive leadership and immediate prioritization of immunization have reaped promising results,” UNICEF Philippines Representative Oyunsaikhan Dendevnorov said.

“This milestone should fuel our resolve to vaccinate even more children, especially those who remain vulnerable to vaccine-preventable diseases like polio, measles, diphtheria, and pertussis,” Dendevnorov added.

Despite the achievement, the WHO Polio Risk Assessment in 2022-2023 still puts the Philippines at high risk, with 36 weighted risk points.

Although this is an improvement from the 39 weighted risk points previously, the assessment is still concerning since polio is a highly infectious disease that can cause permanent disability or death, especially among children.

The most recent polio outbreak in the country was declared in 2019 and ended in 2021.

“Vaccination remains our strongest armor to protect children for life,” WHO Representative Dr. Rui Paulo de Jesus said.

“Together with the Department of Health and partners, our goal is a country and a world where no child is ever paralyzed by polio again, and the infrastructure and systems we’ve built to fight it continue to benefit global health and ensure that children are protected from vaccine-preventable diseases,” De Jesus added.

Early this year, the country endured pertussis outbreaks in several parts of the country and a measles outbreak in the Bangsamoro Region.

Based on Department of Health (DoH) data, around 3,356 cases of measles and rubella were recorded from 1 January to 14 September, where 11 died.

UNICEF noted that vaccine-preventable diseases, such as pertussis and measles, can only end once the coverage rate across all vaccine antigens reaches 95 percent.

The latest data from DoH showed there are 3,827 cases of pertussis.

As of 2023, only 62 percent of eligible children are considered fully immunized or have received three doses of oral polio vaccine, with two doses of measles-containing vaccine, and three doses of pentavalent vaccine before they reach one year old.

This, however, is a slight improvement from 60 percent in 2022.

Moreover, there are 215 cases of diphtheria in the country, another vaccine-preventable disease, with 25 deaths.