DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 12 Dec) – Falling short from the 95-percent target to vaccinate eligible children in this city, the City Health Office (CHO) said it will expand its free vaccination services, targeting main malls and private schools.
During the “Stakeholders Consultative Meeting Regarding the Expansion of Vaccination Activities in Davao City” event at the Acacia Hotel on Thursday, Janis Olavides, Family Health Cluster head at the Department of Health – Region 11 (DOH-11), said that the CHO only vaccinated 49 percent of the target eligible children, which were Grade 1, 4, and 7. Last year, CHO reached 62 percent.
To reach the annual 95-percent target set by DOH, Julinda Acosta, CHO technical division head, told the media in a separate interview that in collaboration with DOH-11, they are keen to expand their immunization services by raising awareness to more people through private schools and malls.
These immunization services include free vaccines against measles-rubella, tetanus-diphtheria, human papillomavirus and cervical cancer.
“As long as there’s budget, and support from DOH-11, we’re amenable to that. We do see their support though,” she said in the vernacular.
“This is also for children who might be afraid to get vaccinated, so at least the mother can see, for example, the vaccination services in malls,” Acosta said, adding that this will give confidence to children to get vaccinated. “This will help us in our drive against vaccine-preventable diseases,” she added.
Acosta said they plan to meet school physicians, school nurses, and school heads in a bid to reach their target.
She said the CHO will also urge mall officials to allocate them space for their free immunization services.
At the consultative meeting Thursday, shopping mall and private school officials were also around, as well as the media and local and national government agencies.
As for being short of the DOH-11 target, Acosta said they have yet to re-validate the eligible population through random sampling, as it could be possible that DOH-11 and CHO may not have the same numbers.
“Based on the number of eligible children given by the DOH and the CHO personnel’s actual survey, the actual number is smaller than what the DOH provided,” Acosta pointed out, explaining why DOH-11 might have measured CHO’s performance so low. (Ian Carl Espinosa / MindaNews)
