The City Health Office has registered a very low turnout of students from public school who undertook immunization since the Integrated School-based Health Services program started last August.
Dr. Julinda Acosta, CHO Technical Division Chief, said during the Partnership Meeting organized by the Department of Health on Tuesday at the Grand Men Seng Hotel, that the program run into ‘challenges’ despite the advocacy campaign conducted to the parents of the students from Grade 1, Grade 4 and Grade 7 students who are the recipients of the free vaccination of the Measles, Mumps, Rubella (MMR), Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) and the Tetanus Diptheria (TD).
While female students in Grade 4, aged 9 to 13 years old will also be vaccinated with HPV vaccines.
Under the school-based immunization, all Grade 1 pupils and Grade 7 students in public schools will be vaccinated with MCV and TD, while grade 7 students will receive measles-rubella (MR) and TD vaccines.
Based on the partial result given by CHO, out of the 32,407 Grade 1 students, only 29.7% were vaccinated with MMR, while 31% with TD.
For Grade 7 students, out of the 32,395, only 30% were vaccinated with MMR, while 29.4% for TD.
As for first dose of HPV vaccine, only 18% out of the total 14,942 Grade 4 students were vaccinated.
Among the factors that were cited was the refusal of issuance of consent from parents, coordination issues between the school and health districts, lack of support and advocacy from school advisers in some schools, low acceptance among parents due to fear and mistrust and the very controversial dengvaxia vaccination issue that has been circulating over the media.
“We have conducted different orientation to the parents in every district, but still there is still a low acceptance coming from the people,” Acosta said.
She also noted that there was a decrease of acceptance, as compared to the first school-based immunization orientation that was first implemented on August 5-September 6, 2013, that was attended by all first year to fourth year high school students in government schools that were given a booster dose of vaccines.
The CHO chief is then encouraging the parents to avail the vaccines before it goes expired, considering a vaccine only has a two-year preservation period.
“Hopefully, before these vaccines expire, we could reach it out to the public,” Acosta said.
She also said that they will also be distributing vaccines to the private schools.
