CHD pushes Cebu City-wide anti-polio vaccination

City Health Officer Daisy Villa. | CDND File Photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu City Health Department (CHD) is proposing a mass vaccination here to protect its around 30, 000 children aged 10-years-old and below from poliovirus infection.

“We cannot just look into the areas near the Butuanon River, we have to conduct a city-wide vaccination for children,” said Dr. Daisy Villa, the City Health Officer.

But before they could even start with the planned mass vaccination, Villa said there was a need for City Hall to set aside funds for the purchase of the needed vaccines.

Villa said that she is now in the process of determining how much it will cost the city government to vaccinate the around 30, 000 children who are in need of protection from the deadly poliovirus.

Read: Butuanon River in Mandaue tested positive for poliovirus — DOH

So far, Villa said that the anti-polio vaccine that they now have is only enough to vaccinate children coming from the 1, 000 families who live along the Butuanon River in Cebu City’s side.

Villa said that they cannot also ask for vaccines from the Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH-7) since their existing supply has already been set aside for Butuanon River residents on Mandaue City’s side.

“We cannot wait for the stocks, we have to purchase our own,” she said.

Read: Mandaue launches mass vaccination for polio dose defaulters

The Mandaue City Health Office already started on Tuesday, February 18, 2020, its door to door anti-polio vaccination campaign especially in barangays that are located along the Butuanon River.

Villa said they also plan to do the same as soon as they already have enough anti-polio vaccine supply.

For now, they will just have to complete the survey which they started two weeks ago to check on the health condition of residents along the Butuanon River and to determine if any of them has manifested symptoms of poliovirus infection.

The CHD survey will focus on 16 barangays that are located along the Butuanon River and its tributaries. This include Barangays Guadalupe, Pulang Bato, Busay, Budlaan, and Pit-os among others.

Read: Residents in riverside communities in Mandaue City worried over polio-contaminated Butuanon River

As of Wednesday, Villa said they have not received information on the presence of poliovirus cases in the city.

Villa said that around three percent of the city’s close to 1 million population are children aged 10-years-old and below who are in need of protection from the poliovirus infection.

She admitted that the Dengvaxia scare in 2019 contributed to the drop in poliovirus vaccination among the city’s children.

But they are addressing the concern this year with the planned implementation of the mass anti-polio vaccination.

“We urge the parents to vaccinate their children before they suffer from the poliovirus,” said Villa. / dcb