The World Health Organization has urged local government units to ensure that polio vaccination campaigns in their jurisdictions are “planned and implemented effectively.”
“Every community leader, religious leader, and celebrity must mobilize their communities to participate in immunization activities,” the WHO said.
It reiterated that the best way to prevent polio is through vaccination.
“Parents and caregivers are advised that the best protection for their children is vaccination. It takes multiple doses of polio vaccine to achieve full immunity against polio,” it said.
The WHO said that the polio vaccine is safe and effective as it has “saved millions of lives over the years.”
“More than 18 million people are able to walk today who would otherwise have been paralyzed and 1.5 million childhood deaths have been averted thanks to the polio vaccine,” the WHO said.
The Department of Health has attributed the reemergence of polio in the country after nearly two decades to the Dengvaxia vaccine controversy, parents not home to bring their child to the health centers nor be able to have their children vaccinated during the time of the house-to-house campaign, and poor environmental sanitation and hygiene. (Analou de Vera)