MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines is trying to lower the number of zero-dose children — or kids who have yet to receive any kind of vaccination — beginning with a school-based vaccination program that kicks off on October 7.
“The private sector immunizes about 10% of the 2 million children every year. Ang (The) total estimate is, we’d like to vaccinate about 2 million children born every year — it’s about 1.7 to 2 million every year kung mabakunahan natin iyon (if we are able to vaccinate them),” Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa said in a press conference on Tuesday, September 17.
In the country’s National Immunization Program, children below the age of one should be vaccinated against 11 diseases. The vaccination program includes one dose of BCG vaccine for tuberculosis; three doses of pentavalent vaccine for diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, Hepatitis B, and haemophilus influenza; three doses of polio vaccine; two doses of measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine; and pneumococcal conjugate vaccine.
For those who missed the one-year window, the Department of Health (DOH) is working with the Department of Education to target zero-dose children through its Bakuna-Eskwela program that will be launched in public schools across the country.
The program aims to vaccinate students enrolled in Grade 1, Grade 4, and Grade 7. Herbosa said they chose these ages to be able to target zero-dose children, giving them the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine as well as the pentavalent vaccine early on.
Herbosa said the DOH will also distribute the human papillomavirus or HPV vaccine to female students. The HPV vaccine helps protect individuals from getting cervical cancer, which Herbosa said ranks third among kinds of cancer that are prominent in the Philippines.
The program, however, would still require the parents’ consent.
“Ang usual process namin, kapag may nag-refuse na parent, iyong health workers na namin ang pumupunta at ini-interview o tinatanong bakit ayaw magpabakuna (Our usual process is, when a parent refuses, our health workers go to them and interview them about why they don’t want their child to get vaccinated),” Herbosa said.
“We try to convince them. Baka maling information (Maybe they got the wrong information).”
The country’s goal is to fully vaccinate 95% of its child population. So far, Herbosa said the country has vaccinated 34% and around 1.5 million still need to get vaccinated to reach the yearly target.
In 2022, the World Health Organization and UNICEF said around 25 million children were behind on routine vaccinations, partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In UNICEF’s State of the World’s Children report in 2023, it noted that the Philippines had around 1.5 million zero-dose children.
In March this year, several areas in the country declared an outbreak of whooping cough, a vaccine-preventable disease. The DOH also had to play catch up for pertussis vaccinations then.
Herbosa on Tuesday said Central Visayas and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao are regions with the “lowest coverage,” or have few fully immunized children.
Among their struggles, the health chief noted, is how far some communities are — making logistics and supply chain management difficult since vaccines need to be kept refrigerated. Herbosa said he pointed out these challenges to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., adding that a “whole-of-society” approach is needed to make sure vaccines reach even far-flung communities.
“I am thinking with public and private partnership, baka in the remote areas, madala iyon ng mga delivery (maybe in the remote areas, those will be delivered),” Herbosa said. – Rappler.com