By Franklin P. Gumapon
PAGADIAN CITY – After the conduct of the
national deworming day last month, the Department of Health (DOH) and the
Department of Education (DepEd) are now ready for the month-long school-based
immunization program starting Aug. 1-31.
Ms. Ma. Victoria B. Arquiza, coordinator for Expanded
Program on Immunization (EPI), DOH-9, said in a media forum held here earlier
that the school-based immunization program is a follow-up to the Measles
Containing Vaccine (MCV) immunization of under five years old children aged
9-59 months, aimed at interrupting measles transmission in the older
population.
All grade 1 children will be given MCV and tetanus and
diphtheria (Td) while grade 7 children will be immunized against measles and
rubella (MR) and Td.
Arquiza explained “the immunity wanes as the years go by,
hence this ‘catch-up immunization’ will be administered to schoolchildren to
provide them with booster immunity against those diseases.”
Human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine will also be given to
all grade 4 female students in the 20 priority poorest provinces in the
country, namely, Apayao, Ifugao, Pangasinan, Masbate, Iloilo, Negros
Occidental, Negros Oriental, Zamboanga del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu, Quezon,
Camarines Sur, Northern Samar, Eastern Samar, Leyte, Cebu, Lanao del Sur, Davao
Oriental, North Cotabato and Sarangani.
All vaccines are given free of charge.
DOH-9 aims to cover 90
percent , more or less, of the target schoolchildren in the region.