The City Health Services Office (CHSO) recently intensified the implementation of the mandated school-based immunization program to vaccinate the targeted learners to prevent them from contracting vaccine preventable illnesses.
CHSO nurse Sonia Insas said that the local government aims to vaccinate some 12,518 learners from 69 public schools in the city the soonest to ensure that they will be protected from the prevalence of vaccine preventable illnesses.
Some 4,558 Grade 1 pupils and 5,486 Grade 7 students are set to be vaccinated with booster doses of tetanus diphtheria and measle rubella vaccines while some 2,444 female Grade 4 pupils will be vaccinated with the human papilloma vaccine to prevent them from contracting cervical cancer.
She urged parents and teachers to unite and campaign together to protect their children against vaccine preventable diseases to ensure that the learners will stay in school to avoid missing valuable learning opportunities.
Data from the health department showed that 3,356 cases of measles and rubella with 11 fatalities were recorded from January to September this year, while 215 cases of diphtheria with 25 deaths, 81 cases of neonatal tetanus with 44 deaths and 7,897 women with cervical cancer.
Health experts claimed that all of the aforesaid cases could have been prevented through safe and effective vaccinations.
As of October 5, 2024, Baguio was able to record 172 suspected pertussis cases with one death where there were 30 positive cases and 71 measles cases with 9.9 percent confirmed cases and a median age of six years old.
The expanded program on immunization of the health department focused on the provision of free vaccines for infants since 1975.
However, the protection provided by some of the said vaccines declined over time and booster doses of appropriate vaccines are required to ensure that a high level of protection is maintained.
In 2013, the health department in collaboration with the education and interior and local government departments through the various health units conducted the first national school-based adolescent immunization in public schools. By Dexter A. See
