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Campaign sees 5.3M kids vaxxed vs. measles, rubella

By Ma. Teresa Montemayor

May 16, 2023, 6:34 pm

MANILA – More than five million children have received vaccines for measles and rubella two weeks after the Department of Health launched its campaign against vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs).

“So, para po sa ating measles at rubella na bakuna, tayo po ay nakapagbakuna na (for our measles and rubella vaccines [MRV], we have inoculated), based on our quick counts, of 5,383,231 or equivalent to 55.47 percent,” DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a media briefing on Tuesday.

At least 1,682,793 children (52.12 percent) received bivalent oral polio vaccines while a total of 2,227,679 children have received vitamin A supplementation.

The MRV is given to children aged 9 months to 5 years old while the OPV is given to children from zero month to 5 years old.

The DOH officially launched the MRV-OPV supplemental immunization activity or Chikiting Ligtas last May 2. It aims to protect children against VPDs which became prevalent during the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to UNICEF, the Philippines ranks second for the highest number of children with zero doses in East Asia and the Pacific Region and fourth in the world between 2019 and 2021.

The DOH urges parents and guardians to have their children inoculated against VPDs which could lead to untimely death. (PNA)

 

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