MANILA --To ensure that the Department of Health's (DOH) measles vaccination program would proceed smoothly next month, health personnel who would be conducting the activity would be undergoing re-training, an official said on Thursday.
"Measles vaccination is a regular activity and vaccinators are already trained. But to ensure that everything is done properly there will be re-orientation and training of regional and city and municipal health workers are being done," Undersecretary Enrique Domingo said, referring to the department's Oplan Ligtas Tigdas vaccination program.
Domingo said that health workers in the cities and municipalities in the National Capital Region (NCR) and Mindanao, where the National Measles Supplemental Immunization Activity, are scheduled on May would undergo the re-training.
He said that an important reminder during the training would be to practice standard immunization safety to prevent adverse after-effects of immunization and transmission of blood-borne infections.
Part of the training also include reminding the health workers not to use vials with any sign of contamination or breakage.
For NCR, the measles vaccination will be from April 25 up to ay 25, 2018 while it will be conducted from May 9 to June 08, 2018 in Mindanao.
The activity will involve the administration of measles vaccine to infants and children aged 6 to 59 months old.
The DOH said some of the adverse reactions that could be experienced when a child is administered with measles vaccine include slight pain, tenderness, mild swelling of the area where the vaccine is injected. The child might also experience mild fever.
The department recorded for this year outbreaks in Taguig City, and in Zamboanga and Davao.
Current measles outbreak, data from the department's Epidemiology Bureau showed that there were 4,168 measles cases reported nationwide from January 1 to March 26, 2018.
Out of the 4,168 reported cases, 723 were laboratory-confirmed measles with a total of 13 deaths.
Most of the confirmed cases came from Regions 11 (27.73 percent), ARMM (21.59 percent), 9 (14.32 percent), 12 (10.45 percent), and 10 (10 percent). (PNA)
