Go seeks expansion of PHL immunization program

Senator Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go on Tuesday urged the Department of Health (DoH) to intensify its immunization campaign and encouraged parents to get their children vaccinated as he shared his proposed measure to expand the country’s immunization program.

In a Senate hearing conducted jointly with the Social Justice, Welfare and Rural Development, and Finance Committees, Go stressed that children are the most valuable resource we have, and yet they are also the most vulnerable citizens of this country.

“We must, therefore, strive to protect the right of all children to survive and to grow,” said Go, the chairperson of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography.

The senator likewise urged parents to trust the government’s immunization and vaccination programs and have their kids immunized as he noted that the country has been polio-free since October 2000 until its recent re-emergence recently.

Go added that “the outbreak demands for our urgent and collective action to protect children from being infected. This imposes the need to increase immunization coverage to stop infectious diseases transmission in the Philippines.”

In July this year, Go filed Senate Bill (SB) No. 398 which seeks to expand the current coverage of the Mandatory Basic Immunization Program and “provides for the expansion of the coverage of the existing mandatory basic immunization program of the government under RA No. 10152.”

If passed into law, rotavirus, Japanese encephalitis, Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV), Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) and other types to be determined by the Health Secretary, upon the recommendation of the Formulary Executive Council and the National Immunization Committee, will be included in the coverage.

Currently, the program only covers tuberculosis, diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis, poliomyelitis, measles, mumps, rubella or German measles, hepatitis-B, and H. Influenza type B (HIB).

Meanwhile, Dr. Salvacion Gatchalian, president of the Philippine Pediatric Society, said that they support Go’s proposed SB 398 which seeks to expand the coverage of the country’s immunization program.

“The Philippine Pediatric Society, together with the Pediatric Infectious Disease Society of the Philippines, supports the proposed inclusions in the bill,” Gatchalian said. “But we also suggest a national immunization technical advisory group which is an independent body from the DoH.”

Gatchalian said that they also support the DoH’s call for additional resources.