The Zamboanga City Health Office. (PNA file photo)
ZAMBOANGA CITY – The City Health Office (CHO) has clarified that there is no vaccine trial for coronavirus disease (Covid-19) here.
Corazon Pagotaisidro, CHO immunization program coordinator, issued the clarification Thursday to allay fears of several parents that the Covid-19 vaccine trial is in the guise of the Measles-Rubella Supplementary Immunization Activity (MR-SIA) and could result to effects similar to that of the controversial Dengvaxia years ago.
Pagotaisidro said parents hid their children when healthcare workers arrived in Barangay Salaan, claiming they were informed that what was being done is Covid-19 vaccine trial and not the supplementary immunization activity.
“We do not have any Covid-19 vaccine testing being done. What we are giving (to children) is the Measles-Rubella vaccine,” Pagotaisidro said.
The MR-SIA, which started October 26 and ends November 25, aims to vaccinate 81,290 children nine months to below five years old regardless of the immunization status.
Dr. Fatima Virginia Alamia, CHO national immunization program medical coordinator, said supplemental immunization aims to protect the target beneficiary-children from Measles, Rubella, and its complications.
The local health workers have already vaccinated 54,338 children representing 66.85 percent of the total target population for the MR-SIA on the first 15 days, or as of Tuesday, of its implementation.
They only need to vaccinate with Measles-Rubella shots 26,951 children ages nine to 59 months in the remaining two weeks before the program’s culmination on November 25. (PNA)
