The Department of Health (DOH) has extended the fourth round of Sabayang Patak Kontra Polio until March 6, Friday, due to the increasing cases of polio in the country.
City Health Office (CHO) head Dr. Josephine Villafuerte said the extended immunization will cover five-year-old children.
“The recent coverage was good, it is a hundred percent, but it only includes only four-year-old and eleven month-old children,” Villafuerte said, adding that there is no polio case reported in the region.
But she admitted that some of the children vaccinated were walk-in clients from neighboring provinces and municipalities who entered the city during the vaccination period. It has been a requirement that children entering the city should be vaccinated. This is part of the prevention program of the city government against the polio virus.
Recent reports bared that as of Feb. 2, more than 200,000 children age zero to 59-month-old have already been vaccinated with the oral polio vaccine type 2 (OPV2) for the third round of the Sabayang Patak Kontra Polio.
Villafuerte has urged parents who have not yet submitted their children to cooperate and comply with the vaccination drive and bring their children to the patak team and centers of the DOH and CHO.
The Sabayang Patak Kontra Polio is conducted in all health centers. House-to-house visits in all barangays in the city have also been conducted. These vaccines are also available in private hospitals, churches, malls, and schools.
The fifth round of the immunization drive will be on March 23 to April 5.
