The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) expressed concern that at least two million Filipino children below two years old may miss vaccinations for this year amid the coronavirus disease pandemic.
The UNICEF said that childhood immunization in the Philippines has been “declining sharply in recent years from 87 percent in 2014 to 68 percent in 2019, exposing children to vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles and polio.”
“A majority of communities in the country are under enhanced community quarantine, with routine immunization services disrupted or suspended, possibly affecting at least two million children below two years old who are most vulnerable to vaccine preventable diseases,” it said in a statement.
To note, the Philippines faced measles and polio outbreak last year.
“The recent measles outbreak in the Philippines in 2019 saw a staggering 130 percent increase in cases compared to the same period in 2018,” the agency said.
“Polio re-emerged in the country in 2019 with 17 confirmed cases and health experts fear an increase as the polio outbreak response had to be suspended due to COVID-19,” it added.
Health interventions like immunization should not be neglected during the COVID-19 pandemic, said UNICEF.
The UNICEF encouraged local government units to continue immunization activities “if feasible,” adding that the Department of Health (DoH) has already issued Interim Guidelines for the Immunization Services in the Context of the COVID-19 Outbreak on March 25 to help local authorities in decision-making.
“If we allow COVID-19 to disrupt immunization programs, our region will face a new crisis at a time when health systems are already strained,” he added. (Analou De Vera)
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