DOH to strengthen routine immunization in PH

MANILA, June 1 ------ Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Teodoro Herbosa affirmed the agency's commitment to strengthening the country’s routine immunization efforts. Herbosa made the statement after the World Health Organization Regional Office raised an alarm over falling vaccine coverage and eroding trust observed in the Western Pacific.

The DOH recorded 2,118 measles-rubella (MR) cases from Jan. 1 to May 10. The figure is an 8 percent increase from the same period last year. The top five regions with the most MR cases are NCR with 642, Calabarzon with 289, Mimaropa with 148, Central Luzon with 146, and Zamboanga Peninsula with 137.

The Case Fatality Rate (CFR) of the same period is at 0.42 percent, a slight decrease from last year’s 0.46 percent. Herbosa said President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. instructed him to solve the measles outbreak in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). “With the strong cooperation of our Bangsamoro brothers and sisters, we vaccinated 1,203,497 individuals as part of a Measles Outbreak Response Immunization (MORI). This kind of vaccination effort is what we must do, on a routine basis," he added.

Consequently, the number of MR cases in the BARMM this year decreased to 121 from last year’s 1,179 cases for the same period. Data gathered as of February 2025 showed that the nationwide fully-immunized child coverage (children who received all recommended vaccines before their first birthday) for 2024 is only 64.85 percent. The WHO’s goal is to achieve 95 percent annual immunization coverage. “We have more proof that the DOH can do it. When President Marcos told me to contain the Pertussis outbreak in 2024, intensified nationwide vaccination brought the numbers down," Herbosa said.

The Philippines recorded only 200 Pertussis cases nationwide from Jan. 1 to May 10, marking 15 times lower than the 2,968 cases logged for the same period in 2024. The DOH continues to strengthen its Routine Immunization program through Catch-up Vaccination and School-Based Vaccination programs, which have reached 3.8 million students nationwide. The "Bakuna BayaniJuan: Big Catch-up Immunization" program in the National Capital Region which ran from Nov. 17 to Dec. 16, 2024 vaccinated 1,753,950 individuals.

Source: pna.gov.ph