The Philippine Medical Association (PMA) is pushing for the implementation of a national digital immunization card for Filipinos to ensure that every citizen shall have gotten their prescribed vaccination during the life stages.
PMA Immediate Past President Dr. Benito P. Atienza said that the issuance of the national digital immunization card to every Filipino will allow them to ascertain whether or not they were able to be vaccinated with the prescribed vaccination during their childhood, adolescence, adult and elderly stages considering that life-course immunization will significantly help in preventing people from contracting life-threatening illnesses.
Atienza spoke about the Life-Course Immunization during the Seminar-Workshop in Injecting Hope Catch Up Vaccination and Life Course Immunization spearheaded by the Philippine Press Institute (PPI), the national association of newspapers, in partnership with Pfizer Philippines, the Pharmaceutical and Health Care Association of the Philippines (PHAP), the PMA, the Philippine Alliance of Patient Organizations (PAPO) and the Philippine Foundation for Vaccination, Inc. (PFVI).
Among the strategies recommended by the PMA to help improve the trust and confidence of Filipinos on the life-course immunization include the annual conduct of National Vaccination Days for Filipinos; digital synchronized national individual immunization record; immunization record as requirement for school entrance, updated records for high school and college; include vaccine history in every annual physical examination for employment and general immunization and infectious lectures incorporated in science subjects from the vaccine experts for grade school and high school.
Earlier, the PMA committed to adopt various steps for the group’s active participation in the government’s vaccination program such as conduct an information campaign to increase public awareness as to the need for the vaccination; assist in the vaccination complying with the government’ list of priorities; monitor the effects and adverse reactions of patients already vaccinated and report to the health department whatever adverse reactions and other information gathered by individual physicians during and after the vaccinations.
Atienza claimed that PMA remains in the forefront of the advocacy aimed at increasing the trust and confidence of the Filipinos on vaccination aside from speaking and educating individuals, families and communities about the value of vaccination and proactively participate in undertaking aimed at improving vaccine trust, confidence and coverage.
The PMA will partner with other stakeholders in launching a massive information campaign in their respective communities to reduce the misinformation and hysteria with the reality of increasing cases of life-threatening illnesses in the different parts of the country.
Atienza called on the members of the media to exercise their role as members of the fourth state to provide the public with timely and accurate information on the importance of Filipinos being fully vaccinated to ensure that they will not contract severe infection when they get sick with the life-threatening illnesses and for them to be healthy during their life stages.
He pointed out that if a person is fully vaccinated with the prescribed vaccines, the tendency is that the illnesses that they will contract will be milder compared to the severe infection that they may contract if they are not fully or completely vaccinated. By Dexter A. See
