President Duterte seeks the public’s support for families, especially those with newborns to get their baby vaccinated as measles cases continue to rise.
“Iyung Dengvaxia, simula nu’ng nagkaroon ng gulo dito, maraming mga pamilya dito sa Pilipinas, hindi lang sa Malabon, na natakot ng mga itong vaccination, at ayaw na, ’wag ho kayong . . . do not be complacent about it kasi ang sanggol talaga kailangan. Iyung Dengvaxia lang, kung ayaw niyo OK lang,” Duterte said in a speech at the groundbreaking ceremony of the new site of the San Lorenzo Ruiz General Hospital at Barangay Panghulo in Malabon as per a report from ABS-CBN News.
Meantime, the Department of Health (DOH) points to vaccine hesitancy as one of the reasons for the recent measles outbreak in some regions of the country as a total of 4,302 measles cases were reported leading to 70 deaths.
This report was derived from validated data of different regions of the country as revealed by the Epidemiology Bureau of DoH from January 1 to February 9 this year.
Ages of cases ranged from 1 month up to 75 years old with 1 to 4 years old (34%) followed by less than 9 months old (27%) as the most affected age-groups. Sixty-six percent of them had no history of vaccination against measles.
Of the total deaths, ages ranged from one month to 31 years old. Notably, 79% of those who died had no history of vaccination.
Regions with high reported cases are NCR (1,296 cases and 18 deaths) CALABARZON (1,086 cases and 25 deaths), Central Luzon (481 cases with 3 deaths), Western Visayas (212 cases and 4 deaths) and Northern Mindanao (189 cases and 2 deaths).
Eastern Visayas, MIMAROPA, CALABARZON, Central Visayas and Bicol are regions that have shown increasing trend as to reported cases for this week.
Vaccine hesitancy refers to delay in acceptance or refusal of vaccines despite availability of vaccination services.
The causes of measles outbreak involved a number of factors or elements. Loss of public confidence and trust in vaccines in the immunization program brought about by the Dengvaxia controversy has been documented as one of many factors that contributed to vaccine hesitancy in the country. This refers to mothers who became hesitant to have their children vaccinated with vaccines that were long proven to be effective.
