AT the turn of the century, the Philippines had nearly eliminated measles. Sadly, the virus has made a strong comeback this year. From January to May, we experienced one of the worst measles outbreaks in the world: More than 33,000 cases and over 400 deaths from the vaccine-preventable disease. The outbreak was driven by distrust of vaccines, as well as by declining rates of routine childhood immunization all over the country.
To try to contain the outbreak, the government launched a massive nationwide measles vaccination campaign. In a video made for this purpose, President Duterte urged parents to have their children immunized. As a result, health workers inoculated 5.5 million children nationwide. However, this number is still way below the government’s target of 15 million children immunized this year.
Although the vaccinations significantly slowed the spread of the disease, health authorities continue to see new cases every week. To prevent another measles outbreak, the Department of Health and the Department of Education (DepEd) signed a joint memorandum circular that makes it mandatory for all learners from kindergarten to Grade 6 to be given a second dose of measles vaccine.
We commend the ingenuity of 39 officials of the DepEd in Zamboanga City, headed by Dr. Felix Romy Triambulo, City Schools Division superintendent, who got themselves immunized against measles in front of parents and students as the school-based immunization program kicked off on Monday in this southern port city. Corazon Pagotaisidro, immunization program coordinator of the City Health Office, said the DepEd officials submitted themselves for immunization to show the parents that the anti-measles vaccines are safe.
Measles is a highly contagious airborne virus. It can linger in a room for a couple of hours if an infected person coughs or sneezes. Health officials say that to effectively stop the spread of measles in a community, 95 percent of the population needs to be immune. The Philippines must strive to reach a high rate of vaccination coverage. Childhood immunization rates peaked in 2009 when 89 percent of kids were considered fully immunized, but that rate dropped to just 66 percent in 2018. Most everyone knows why vaccination rates are currently so low: The Dengvaxia vaccine scandal has left many Filipinos distrustful, even fearful, of vaccines.
This makes the country ripe for another measles outbreak if health officials can’t convince parents to immunize their children. We know it’s much harder to do this after the Dengvaxia scandal. We hope there are more people showing genuine concern, like the DepEd officials in Zamboanga City. We have to convince more parents that the measles vaccine is safe for their children. They must be informed that unvaccinated young children are at the highest risk of measles and its complications, including death.
Most measles-related deaths are caused by complications associated with the disease, and these are more common in children under the age of five. The most serious complications include blindness, encephalitis (an infection that causes brain swelling), severe diarrhea and related dehydration, ear infections, and severe respiratory infections such as pneumonia.
Filipino parents must know that measles is a vaccine-preventable disease, and anti-measles vaccines are safe. All they need to do is to go to their health centers to have their children immunized for free against this deadly disease.