BBM orders intensified immunization program

PRESIDENT Marcos Jr. yesterday directed the Department of Health (DOH) to intensify the country’s immunization as he approved a P7.9-billion program to boost children’s protection and immunization.

The DOH and the Department of Education (DepEd) are set to launch on October 7 the “Bakuna Eskwela” program which involves the immunization of students, especially those in Grades 1, 4 and 7 for measles, rubella, tetanus, and diphtheria.

Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa Jr., at the sectoral meeting in Malacañang, presented the agency’s catch-up plans for the National Immunization Program which is focused on vaccinating children and includes the kickoff for the “Bakuna Eskwela” program.

Herbosa said the President approved the budget of P7.9 billion, up from P6.4 billion, for the purchase of vaccines and its distribution and administration.

He said his agency is implementing a “big catch-up plan” to restore the country’s immunization rate which has started to go down since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Herbosa said that to date, only 71 percent of children nationwide are fully immunized and it is the government’s goal to raise it to about 95 percent by the end of the year.

The Bakuna Eskuwela campaign aims to address the decreasing immunization rate in the country.

The immunization, which will be done in all public schools every Friday, covers Grades 1, 4, and 7 students from public schools.

Herbosa said the vaccination is not mandatory and still needs parents’ consent.

He said he would also coordinate with DepEd to allow students from private schools, who would want to be immunized, to be accommodated.

He said the DOH also wants to raise public awareness on the importance of vaccines especially among the lower socioeconomic classes who believe rumors against vaccines.