The Department of Health Western Visayas Center for Health Development will try to reach at least 95 percent coverage in its measles-rubella and oral polio vaccine supplemental immunization activity or MR-OPV SIA.
Negros Occidental has the highest numbers of unvaccinated children, with 18,770 for MR and 27,984 for OPV. It has achieved 91.59 percent coverage for MR and 89.25 percent for OPV but also has a large population of almost 2.5 million, as of the last count, it added.
The agency’s deadline has been extended to March 7, from Feb. 28, as over 200,000 children in the region are yet to be vaccinated.
“There are still municipalities and even provinces and highly urbanized areas that were not able to reach even 80 percent. It is still our aim to reach 95 percent,” Dr. Daphynie Teorima, Child Health and National Immunization Program coordinator for Western Visayas, said in a virtual presser Monday.
Region 6 posted an 87-percent coverage of its 660,404 target for MR and 84.9 percent of its 770,280 target children for OPV as of February. It still has 84,541 eligible children, who are unvaccinated for MR and 116,275 for OPV.
“It is still a large number and we are doing our best to push our implementers to lessen these numbers,” she said.
She added that only 38 municipalities and cities in the region posted an accomplishment of 95 percent, or higher.
Those that posted below 70-percent accomplishments included the municipalities of Libacao, Malinao, Kalibo, Balete Altavas, and Buruanga in Aklan, Tobias Fornier, Anini-y, Belison, Sebaste, and Patnongon in Antique, and Badiangan, Zarraga, and San Joaquin in Iloilo. Libacao has the lowest coverage at 32.17 percent as it is also dealing with insurgency problems.*PNA
