President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. directed on Tuesday the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) to partner with the Department of Health (DOH) in strengthening the information drive on immunization for children.
In a sectoral meeting, President Marcos told PCO Acting Secretary Cesar Chavez to help in communicating the cause.
He stressed the need to utilize social media.
“We have to get people to talk that they will say ‘you need this, the kids need this,” he said.
President Marcos also noted the importance of partnering with the media to place public service announcements.
“Dapat gamitin natin lahat ng air time na pwede nating gamitin,” he said.
According to the DOH report, the coverage of fully immunized children (FIC) in the country has been below the 95 percent target since 2010.
As of July 2024, the country has reached only 34.7 percent FIC.
In a Palace briefing on the same day, Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa attributed the further dip in the national status of immunization to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Mababa ‘yung ating national status ng fully immunized child dahil po naggaling tayo sa Covid-19. Noong Covid-19, walang pasok. Walang school-based vaccination kasi walang eskwela,” he said.
To address the issue, Herbosa said the DOH will hold a “Big Catch Up” campaign, which includes a nationwide “Bakuna Eskwela” with its kickoff event on October 7.
According to Herbosa, students in Grades 1 and 7 in public schools will be given vaccines for measles, rubella, tetanus, and diphtheria.
Nine-year-old female students will also receive the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine as part of the campaign. PND
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