Phl gets WHO support vs polio

Get your children vaccinated. This is not the time to debate.

Neophyte Sen. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go on Tuesday urged the Department of Health (DoH) and other government agencies to intensify a campaign to entice parents to have their children vaccinated.

“Get your children vaccinated. This is not the time to debate,” Go said with a sense of urgency as he appealed to the public to help the government in making sure the dreaded polio virus, which had been earlier eradicated, will not make a furious comeback.

“The public should have confidence on the government’s vaccination program,” Go said. “We should separate our earlier fear on the Dengvaxia issue as the other vaccines are different matters altogether.”

Go said vaccines are important and that government, particularly the DoH, must do its part in campaigning for and improving health promotion.

“We should save our children and ensure them of quality life,” Go said. “We must ensure information, the efficient distribution of vaccines, and see to it that deliveries are made in the most isolated and poorest of communities.

The DoH, meanwhile, reiterated that it has enough vaccines to combat the reemergence of polio in the country after nearly two decades of being declared free from the crippling disease.

The DoH said that it has partnered with the World Health Organization (WHO) to facilitate an effective response to the polio outbreak in the country.

“We had a meeting with WHO to finalize the exact vaccines that we need,” said Health Undersecretary Eric Domingo. “The WHO promised that it will provide the vaccines, so we can administer it to everyone in need.”

Two children from Lanao del Sur and Laguna were diagnosed with polio just last week while seven suspected case of polio have also been reported in Zamboanga on Monday.

The international health organization earlier expressed concern on the return of polio in the country and vowed to support in preventing its spread by donating vaccines.

“The polio outbreak in the Philippines is confirmed to be from a circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2. This is of particular concern, as wild poliovirus type 2 was certified as globally eradicated in 2015,” said WHO.

As a rapid response to the polio outbreak, simultaneous vaccination programs for children under five years old will be mounted in Metro Manila, Davao and Lanao del Sur next month.

The Health department said that it targets to vaccinate 5.5 million Filipino children, and some babies in Quezon City had already been vaccinated during a gathering under the observation of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III.

“The polio vaccinations happen all year round, but our coverage dropped for the past five years,” Domingo said. “We’ve learned our lesson. It is time to move on and really start vaccinating all kids and make sure we sustain this every year.”

Domingo explained that there is no cure for the virus, which invades the nervous system and can cause irreversible paralysis within hours, but it can be prevented with vaccines although the virus spreads rapidly among children, especially in unsanitary conditions in underdeveloped or war-torn regions where healthcare access is limited.