CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, June 20 (PIA) - The Department of Health (DOH)-10 urges parents to open their doors, as health workers will resume polio outbreak response vaccination to cover the whole of Northern Mindanao starting July 20.
Karen Garces of DOH-10 said in this week's Talakayan sa PIA that this will be a two-week polio outbreak response that would cover house to house, airports, seaports, terminals, malls, churches and any public areas where they can find children 0-59 months old or all under five years, to provide oral polio vaccine.
Since third quarter of last year, Garces said there was one case but with the recent COVID situation, the immunization program has been affected, as mothers are already afraid to go out and have their children vaccinated. Today polio cases account for 37 nationwide.
Considering that polio was a disease already eradicated since 2000, one case could mean an outbreak response. “We have conducted three rounds of immunization because of the outbreak, but due to COVID, the remaining rounds were suspended,” she explained.
“We cannot have another outbreak, aside from COVID-19, because that would burden our already burdened health system. So with that we need to resume our polio outbreak response. This will be done in two weeks, starting this coming July 20 up to August 2. This oral vaccination will apply to all under five children or must be 0-59 months,” she explained.
"The virus is highly transmittable, just like COVID-19. It is oral fecal which is associated with the cleanliness of the environment, as kids would just grab anything and put it in their mouths. That’s where they get the virus," Garces said.
This can also be easily transmitted to other kids especially in areas that are crowded, congested and with poor sanitation. That is why, aside from vaccination, the DOH also includes in its campaigns proper handwashing and sanitation.
Polio also has high fatality rate. Infected children could experience paralysis. "We cannot risk another outbreak because the health system cannot handle multiple outbreaks and the only way to halt this transmission is to do the outbreak response."
Health workers meanwhile will be equipped with protective gears, PPEs, mask and alcohol. All the protective mechanisms or practices will be done by the health worker to make sure they are not carrier of COVID-19 during the vaccination.
Many people died of COVID-19, Garces said. "This is because there is no vaccination or treatment yet." Polio does not have any treatment but the vaccine. So, she urged parents to have their children vaccinated to avoid polio. (JMORucat/PIA10)
Source: Philippines Information Agency (pia.gov.ph)
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