December 4, 2024 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — Up to 90,000 children in Ilocos region will be covered by the “Big Catch-Up” immunization campaign of the Department of Health.
As of September, the DOH said 47,882 children in the region have been vaccinated against polio and other vaccine-preventable diseases.
The figure translates to 45.92 percent of the full immunization coverage (FIC), the DOH said.
It said up to 74,390 infants in Ilocos region, or 71 percent of the FIC, were fully immunized in 2023.
DOH-Ilocos chief Paula Paz Sydiongco said they are exerting all efforts to achieve 95 percent of the full immunization target.
Sydiongco assured parents that vaccines being provided by the DOH are free of charge and of good quality.
Under the “Big Catch-Up” program, the DOH provides routine immunization to babies aged 0 to 23 months, and bivalent oral polio supplemental immunization to children aged 24 to 59 months.
Since the campaign started a few weeks ago, the health agency reported that the number of fully immunized children increased by four to eight percent.
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