This early, the Department of Health (DOH) 11 is appealing for the cooperation of the parents for the upcoming school-based immunization drive against measles, rubella, tetanus, and diphtheria (MRTD) to elementary pupils.
Dr. Raquel Montejo, the officer-in-charge of DOH 11’s Local Health Support Division, said the school-based immunization for MRTD was supposed to be completed last February but was held back “because of the time constraints and the school year was about to end.”
“We would like to appeal to the parents of Grade One and Grade Seven students for the measles, rubella, tetanus and diphtheria vaccination, and also for the Grade Four students who will be receiving HPV vaccination,” Montejo said.
She said they will take the opportunity of the Brigada Eskwela to inform and encourage parents to sign up for the school-based vaccination.
As of now, they have yet to determine the total number of students to be vaccinated since the enrolment is still on-going but she assured that there will always be enough vaccines to cater all students.
Meanwhile, measles cases in Davao Region significantly dropped by 18% for the first four months of the year compared to the previous year based on the DOH data.
In a cumulative total from Jan. 1 to May 13, Davao Region has 893 reported cases: 357 in Davao City; 191 in Davao del Norte; 141 in Davao Oriental; 97 in Compostela Valley; 89 in Davao del Sur and 18 in Davao Occidental. Last year on the same period, measles cases were reported as high as 1,086.
