Philippines improves zero dose rankings

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is no longer considered one of the top five countries having “zero dose children” or children who failed to receive a single dose of any routine vaccination, according to the Department of Health (DOH).

“We are no longer in that list of countries with a lot of zero dose children... It means we have more children given at least one dose of vaccine,” DOH Secretary Ted Herbosa said at a press briefing Monday.

“Previously, we were at number four. Now, we got a lower ranking. There is an improvement somehow,” said Herbosa.

The DOH chief attributed the development to the DOH’s enhanced immunization program. “That’s a tribute to our immunization program... This means there are now more children with at least one dose of these vaccines,” he said.

Herbosa expressed hope there would be a further decrease in the number of zero dose children in the country.

“We are encouraging more parents to have their children receive these much-needed vaccines through our national immunization program,” he said.

Vaccines included in the national immunization program are for diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, measles, poliomyelitis and tuberculosis.

According to The State of the World’s Children 2023, the Philippines has more or less 1.5 million zero-dose children.