CATARMAN, Northern Samar-The Department of Health(DOH) in coordination with the Department of Education(DepEd) urged parents to allow their children to avail the School Based Immunization (SBI) program this month to prevent them from disease and ailments.
North Samar national immunization program coordinator Naome Mercader said all Grade 1 pupils will be immunized with measles containing vaccine (MCV) and tetanus diphtheria (TD), human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine for female Grade 4 pupils, while Grade VII students will be given measles rubella (MR) and TD vaccines which are highly recommended by DOH.
Mercader said school nurses through the assistance of the teachers are distributing parent’s consent forms to be signed up by the parents or guardians, as the consent is important before they will vaccinate considering that school children are of minor age.
She added there is a need to strengthen information campaign to increase the level of awareness on the benefits of the immunization program and also to achieve the 90% accomplishment as the previous year performance was only 62%.
Mercader explained that vaccines are provided to infants (0 to 12 months) as their shield against contagious diseases such as polio, measles, German measles, diphtheria, and tetanus.
However, over time, this protection will decline and booster doses to older children are needed to ensure that this protection is maintained at high levels.
SBI is a strategy to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) to ensure that lives and well-being of children at all ages are protected.