SCHOOL-BASED VAX. Some 74,415 learners in public schools in the Cordillera Administrative Region are targeted for the Bakuna Balik Eskwela program of the Department of Health. Included are learners in grade 1, 4, and 7. (Photo courtesy of DOH-PDOH-Abra)
BAGUIO CITY – An official of the Department of Health in the Cordillera Administrative Region (DOH-CAR) has expressed confidence that the 74,415 public school learners targeted for the Balik Bakuna Eskwela program will be vaccinated until next month.
The two-month school-based vaccination program was rolled-out in the region on Oct. 7.
Albert Jose Sumadchat, senior health program officer under the Public Health Unit of the Department of Health Cordillera, in a press conference on Wednesday, said the target are grades 1, 4 and 7 learners in 1,844 public schools in the region.
Specifically, about 27,026 first graders and 31,847 seventh graders will be given measles and rubella vaccines, while 15,542 female fourth graders will be given anti-human papilloma virus vaccine.
“Only those enrolled in the grade levels mentioned are targeted and we have not received any rejection from the parents or the guardians for vaccine refusals,” he said.
The program is being resumed after a temporary suspension during the pandemic.
Sumadchat clarified that the program “is just a supplemental immunization.”
“When the children were born in medical facilities, they already received the initial shots and this is a booster to ensure that they will not be inflicted with the disease that may result from non-vaccination,” he said.
In 2023, the regional office recorded 65 percent immunization rate among children, while the rate as of August this year is about 42 percent, he said.
“On Friday, we will be testing the use of the technological system where private pediatricians will record the vaccination record of their patients for incorporation in the government’s immunization record among children,” he added. (PNA)
