Davao targets 260k free polio shots

Credit to Author: MASIDING NOOR YAHYA| Date: Wed, 02 Oct 2019 17:30:19 +0000

DAVAO CITY: The Department of Health (DoH) is targeting 260,000 children to avail of the free polio vaccination for its first round of vaccination from October 14 to 27 in Davao City and Davao del Sur.

Davao Regional Director Dr. Annabel Yumang told the press on Monday that the DoH is set to hold a door-to-door, fixed location or even a mall-based vaccination for children aged 0 to 59 months regardless of immunization status.

“Even if they have already received polio vaccine before, they are still target to get vaccinated,” Yumang explained.

The Sabayang Patak Kontra Polio (Leaving No Child Behind Against Polio) program of the DoH in Davao Region comes in three rounds. The first batch covers Davao City with 186,859 children and Davao del Sur with 72,389 children.

The second round is scheduled on November 25 to December 7 while the third batch is set on Jan. 6 to 18, 2020. The last two rounds will cover the rest of the target children in Davao Region.

DoH Assistant Secretary Dr. Abdullah Dumama Jr. assured the public there was enough vaccines for the target number of children.

“The DoH has allotted P7 million for the first round, and P103 million for each of the 2nd and 3rd round. This amount will be spent for the mobilization since the vaccines are given to us for free by the Unicef,” he said.

The Davao City Health Office (DCHO) also assured the availability of supplies of vaccines for Oral Polio Vaccination (OPV) for children one-year-old and below.

But, she said for the immunization-outreach activities, the CHO is still waiting for the supplies.

City Health Officer Dr. Josephine Villafuerte said on Monday there was enough supply of OPV vaccines for children one-year old and below, available at the barangay (village) health centers.

Polio is an infectious disease, which spreads rapidly. It can cause paralysis, and on rare occasions, can be fatal. It can spread when food or drink are contaminated by feces with polio virus ingested.

There is no cure for polio but it can be prevented with three doses of OPV and one dose of Inactivated Polio Vaccine.

“These vaccines have long been used in the Philippines, proven safe and effective and are given for free in health centers,” Dumama said.

In Davao City, where the water sample taken from the waterways yielded positive for polio virus, an ordinance calling for zero open defecation is set to be pushed this week by City Councilor Dr. Mary Joselle Villafuerte.

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