The health department is targeting to fully vaccinate young females aged nine to eleven by 2027 to ensure their protection from life-threatening illnesses such as cervical cancer, among others.
Undersecretary Eric Tayag said that more or less 30 percent of the population of young females aged nine to eleven were already vaccinated with the human papilloma vaccine, way below the projected target population to be vaccinated because of the inadequate supply of the vaccines.
Undersecretary Tayag served as a reactor for the health department on the outputs of the Seminar-Workshop on Injecting Hope Catch Up Vaccination and Life-Course Immunization spearheaded by the Philippine Press Institute, the national association of newspapers, in partnership with Pfizer Philippines, Pharmaceutical and health Care Association of the Philippines, Philippine Alliance of Patient Organizations, Philippine Medical Association and the Philippine Foundation, Inc.
The health official explained that one of the reasons for the slowdown in the implementation of the human papilloma vaccination is the expensive cost of the vaccines and the limited budget earmarked to purchase the same.
He added that the agency will be able to increase the vaccination of the targeted population once the government can produce its own vaccines which will make it cheaper and affordable to increase the number of young females who will be getting the said vaccine.
According to him, all the vaccines being inoculated to individuals in the life stages can save lives and that it is for everyone for them to prevent contracting severe infection of life-threatening illnesses.
Tayag claimed that the health department has to work on the budget allocated by the government to implement the national immunization program that will guarantee the provision of available vaccines to the vulnerable sectors for them to be spared from having their health compromised if they contract life-threatening illnesses.
On the other hand, he stipulated that the flu vaccines for the elderly that the government procured arrived late, that is why a lot of catching up has to be done to dispose of the available flu vaccines to the elderly before the end of the year.
Undersecretary Tayag disclosed that the government needs to purchase another set of vaccines because this is being updated frequently to be able to be effective and efficient in protecting the senior citizens from contracting life-threatening illnesses.
He asserted that it is important for the government to implement the vaccination of all the vulnerable sectors to protect them even if they will get sick as the impact of the infection will be much milder that could keep them going and be able to sustain their productivity and earn a living for their families.
The health department has embarked on the implementation of an aggressive national immunization program geared towards the ability of people to be immune from life-threatening illnesses.