The Cordillera office of the Department of Health (DOH) reported that the region was able to achieve an 81.14 percent vaccination rate for children aged 9 to 59 months for measles rubella and 70.66 percent vaccination rate for polio.
In a report, DOH-CAR disclosed that Baguio city registered the highest vaccination rate for measles rubella with 87.31 percent followed by Kalinga – 86.85 percent, Apayao – 83.51 percent, Ifugao – 83.36 percent, Mountain Province – 82.73 percent, Abra – 81.74 percent and Benguet – 72.21 percent.
The DOH-CAR targeted some 140,033 children aged 9 to 59 months old who are qualified to be vaccinated for measles rubella but only 113,633 children in the said age range were vaccinated.
Baguio was able to vaccinate some 20,423 out of the targeted 23,391 children. Kalinga was also able to vaccinate some 17,164 out of the supposed 19,763 children that should have been vaccinated for measles rubella. Apayao was able to vaccinate 8,239 children out of the programmed 9,866, Ifugao vaccinated some 15,219 out of the targeted 18,257 kids, Mountain Province was able to accomplish the vaccination of 10,001 out of the targeted children population of 12,088, Abra vaccinated some 14,184 out of the 17,352 kids and Benguet was able to vaccinate some 28,392 from the 39,360 targeted population.
On the other hand, the DOH-CAR targeted some 163,239 children aged 0 to 59 months who should be vaccinated with the bivalent oral polio vaccine but only 115,341 kids were vaccinated.
Mountain Province recorded the highest vaccination rate among the age range with 11,774 out of the targeted 14,013 children that should be vaccinated with a vaccination rate of 84.02 percent followed by Baguio city with a vaccination rate of 75.23 percent or some 20,58 vaccinated kids out of the targeted 27,380, Ifugao – 74.93 percent vaccination rate or 15,952 vaccinated children out of the targeted 21,289; Kalinga – 74.40 percent vaccination rate or 17215 kids out of the targeted 23,139; Benguet 65.77 percent vaccination rate or 30,181 out of the targeted 45,890 children; Apayao – 64.80 percent vaccination rate or 7,457 out of the targeted 11,508 children and Abra – 60.76 percent vaccination rate or 12,164 out of the targeted 20,020 children in the said age bracket.
Health authorities disclosed that the vaccination for measles rubella and oral polio will continue in the different health centers established in the various parts of the region to be able to continue reaching out to the portion of the population that need the said vaccinations. They admitted that there must be an aggressive implementation of the vaccination for measles rubella and oral polio after it was suspended for some two years during the COVId-19 pandemic that resulted to significant increases in the cases of measles among children which prompted the health department to conduct a month-long vaccination that was extended for another 15 days after the impact inflicted by Tropical Storm Dodong in most parts of the country that delayed the implementation of the vaccination in a large part of the country.
