Davao City — Starting October 14, the Department of Health- Region 11 (DOH-11) will conduct a massive multiple rounds of additional polio immunization in the Davao Region to ensure that all children will get vaccinated.
Dr. Abdullah Dumama Jr., Assistant Secretary of Health on Field Implementation and Coordination Team for Visayas and Mindanao said all children five years and below will receive three doses of Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) and one dose of Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPV) to get protection against the poliovirus
The first round of vaccination is on October 14-27 in this city and in the entire province of Davao del Sur. The next round will be on November 25-December 7 and the third round will be on January 6-18, 2020.
Dumama said that both rounds will cover all provinces in Davao region and the rest of Mindanao. He added that previous immunization campaigns failed to immunize more because of the lack of consent from parents.
He encourages parents to have their children vaccinated to protect them from deadly diseases, among them polio.
“We urge the parents to submit their children for vaccination. The Philippines is among the top 15 countries with a high number of missed vaccinations among children,” he said.
Dr. Annabelle Yumang, DOH-11 director, said they are targeting 95 percent coverage or about 575,845 children in Region 11 below five years old for the polio vaccination.
“We will do the massive vaccination anywhere they want. We will do house to house, we also plan to have it in malls and even on bus terminals,” she said. (Rommel F. Lopez)