The City Health Office (CHO) said it received a positive response from the parents in the CHO’s call to have their children vaccinated on the pilot day of the “Sabayang Patak Kontra Polio” last Monday.
The CHO noted that hundreds of parents trooped to the city health centers and malls during the synchronized anti-polio immunization drive on Monday.
Over 500 children received the Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) during the first two hours of the immunization drive, which incorporated activities like games and songs to entertain children who were being vaccinated.
According to CHO chief Dr. Josephine Villafuerte, there is no recorded cases of polio in the city but Davaoeñoes need not to be complacent following that there is the virus remains to exist in the riverbanks of the city.
Villafuerte said they are still consolidating the number of the children 5 years old and below who received the OPV on the first day.
The week-long pilot vaccination will only be the first of a series of OPV immunization drive of the city government – Round Zero is on Oct. 14 to Oct. 22; Round One will be from Nov. 25 to Dec. 7; and Round Two will be start on Jan. 2 up to Jan. 18.
Villafuerte said the city government is targeting a 100-percent immunization rate for children 5 years old and below. In the city, there are 186,869 children targeted to be covered by the vaccination.
The city is part of the massive polio vaccination after the type 2 poliovirus was found in the water sample taken from the Davao River last month.
“We still reiterate our call to all the parents to please let your children be vaccinated. Open your doors to our personnel for vaccination,” Villafuerte said.
Despite a weeklong vaccination, Villafuerte called upon the parents to participate in the vaccination drive and to no longer wait for the later part of the week.
“Hopefully the parents will not wait at the end of the week, we hope that they will come to our centers or have their children vaccinated in the malls since we have booths there and they can also go to the private and public hospitals,” she said.
The vaccination will be given free including those given in the private since the OPV vaccine for type 2 poliovirus comes from the Department of Health (DOH).
By Samantha T. Burgos and Julianne A. Suarez
