Dr. Arvin Alejandro, Sarangani provincial health officer. (File photo courtesy of the National Nutrition Council-12)
GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- Sarangani province's health personnel are expecting another high turnout in the ongoing third round of the mass immunization campaign against polio in the area.
Dr. Arvin Alejandro, Sarangani Provincial Health Office (PHO) chief, said Monday they are on track to meet their target in the current round of the Sabayang Patak Kontra Polio, which started last Feb. 17.
Alejandro said they aim to immunize a total of 70,816 children aged five-years-old until the end of the campaign on March 1.
For the first and second rounds in November and January, he said they achieved immunization coverage of 99.71 percent and 102.67 percent, respectively.
Alejandro noted that the numbers are higher than the 95 percent target set by the Department of Health (DOH) to achieve herd immunity in local communities against the poliovirus.
“It shows that we are properly protecting our communities against any outbreak polio, which is a vaccine-preventable disease,” he told reporters here.
He attributed the high turnout so far to “convergence of stakeholders,” especially the efforts of local health workers to reach the far-flung areas despite the security issues.
The official said the entire province’s seven municipalities have remained free from any human case of polio.
He said the more than 95 percent immunization coverage in the first two rounds now makes the “chances of having an outbreak very, very minimal." The first two rounds of the campaign focused on the monovalent oral poliovirus vaccine type 2.
Razel Bustria, PHO’s national immunization program coordinator, said they are currently providing the bivalent oral poliovirus vaccine for poliovirus Types 1 and 3.
Bustria said they are on course to achieve the Department of Health’s (DOH) target coverage of at least 85 percent for the first week of the campaign.
She said another round was scheduled from March 23 to April 4 in response to the recent positive cases of polio reported in parts of Mindanao. (PNA)
