To give children better protection against vaccine-preventable diseases, the City Health Office (CHO) called on parents to have their children vaccinated through the “School-Based Immunization (SBI) expansion” being held in malls this month.
Dr. Joy Espina, Child Health City Coordinator of the CHO, during the I-Speak Media forum on Thursday said that the SBI program started November last year, but due to the low turnout of children who availed of the vaccinations, they started conducting an “SBI expansion” campaign in malls.
The vaccination is scheduled on January 18, 19, 25, and 26 at the Abreeza Mall in Bajada.
In addition to the flu and pneumococcal vaccines given in malls, Espina said children between the ages of 9 and 14 can receive the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, and Grades 1 and 7 students can receive the measles, rubella, tetanus, and diphtheria (MRTD) vaccine.
Dr. Analiza Malubay, National Immunization Program City Coordinator, said the low turnout of children availing the vaccines was caused by hesitancy among parents.
“Ang uban man gud ang ilahang source kay social media. So, whether you like it or not daghan gyud ang fake news, so ang uban man gud nga parents didto sila mag-base, so that’s why taas ang atoang vaccine hesitancy (Some parents get their information from social media. So, whether you like it or not, there are a lot of fake news, and some parents base their opinions on that [social media], that’s why our vaccine hesitancy is high),” she said.
She said only 6,073 of the 9,378 first-graders in the first district received the MRTD vaccine as of December 2024. Out of 10,235 first-graders students in the second district, only 4,228 received the vaccine. In the third district, of 11,182 Grade 1 students, only 5,091 received vaccination.
Only 3,829 of the 10,796 Grade 7 pupils in the first district received the MRTD immunization. In the second district, only 3,117 of the 9,219 students got the MRTD vaccine, while in the third district, of 11,075 pupils, only 5,128 were vaccinated.
For the HPV vaccine among Grade 4 students, only 1,410 of the 4,561 had themselves vaccinated in the first district. In the second district, only 1,680 of the 5,091 fourth graders got the shot, while only 2,234 of 5,560 students availed of the vaccination in the third district.
She said the vaccination in malls is for those who did not avail of the immunizations in their schools, particularly since SBI in only conducted in public schools.
Espina also encouraged parents to have their children vaccinated, saying that children’s immunity from vaccines they received when they were younger wane with time.
“Kasagaran nabakunhan naman gyud atong gagmay but naga-wane ang immunity ana. Buot pasabot nagababa ang atoang resistensya maong nagahatag ta og booster dozes sa Grade 1 ug Grade 7 (Usually, kids are vaccinated when they were still infant, but their immunity wanes. This means that our resistance is decreasing, so we give booster doses, especially to Grade 1 and Grade 7),” she said.
“Kung wala ta naka-avail sa kato’ng SBI, we can also go to our nearest center. And for private schools, ongoing na po ang mga talks para open pod nato sa ila ang SBI (If we did not avail in our SBI, we can also go to our nearest center. And for private schools, talks are ongoing so that we can open our SBI to them),” she said. CIO
