Despite losing two children from Cebu to measles, Dr. Jonathan Erasmo of the Department of Health in Central Visayas says that their immunization thrust against measles have gained headway with more parents submitting their children to undergo the anti-measles vaccinations. . |CDN Digital file photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Two babies — a 1-year-old boy and a 5-month-old girl — from Cebu Province and Lapu-Lapu City — are the latest fatalities of measles in Central Visayas.
These raise the number of deaths of the measles virus this year in Central Visayas to 6.
Dr. Shelbay Blanco, Department of Health in Central Visayas’ (DOH-7) Regional Epidemiology surveillance medical officer, said in a press briefing on Tuesday, February 26, that the victims were from Cebu — the boy was from Consolacion while the girl was from Lapu-Lapu City.
“Latest cases nato, we have 475 cases and six deaths,” Blanco said.
Out of 475 cases, 134 of which are reported in Cebu province, 103 in Negros Oriental and two cases in Siquijor.
In highly urbanized cities, Cebu city got the most number of measles cases with 157, followed by Lapu-Lapu City (27) and Mandaue City (18).
Read more: Measles claims life of a two-year-old girl from a Cebu town, the 3rd in the province this year
Despite this, Dr. Jonathan Erasmo, DOH-7’s Chief of the Local Health Support Division, said that he was glad to announce that their immunization coverage had already improved to 20.5 percent out of more than 300,000 targeted population.
“Our Immunization efforts have improved. Almost all municipalities in Region 7 ang nakahimo na og vaccination posts,” Erasmo said.
Read more: DOH-7 intensifies measles vaccination info drive, appeals for parents’ cooperation
He also said that they had received positive feedback from barangay health workers (BHWs) and their personnel that the parents were already giving their consent to submit their child for the measles vaccinations.
“We are seeing mothers and parents coming in and LGUs (local government units) setting up (vaccination posts) in malls, simbahan and public places,” he added.
In Cebu city, vaccination posts were already set up in Robinsons Galleria, SM and Ayala.
Read more: DOH-7 looking into proposal to put up measles vaccination posts in malls
Based on their breakdown of the measles cases this year, less than 1-year-old infants and 1 to 5-year-old children have remained as the most susceptible of the population to the measles virus with 90 cases and 72 cases, respectively. These are followed by 21 years old and above (53 cases), 16-20 years old (21 cases), 6-10 years old (13 cases) and 11-15 years old (7 cases)/dbs