Sittie Aleya U.

Ampaso X- Tau September 26, 2019

WHO to send vaccines after polio

resurgence
Author: Gillian M. Cortez Date: September 26, 2019
Source: https://www.bworldonline.com/who-to-send-vaccines-after-polio-resurgence/?
fbclid=IwAR0_vT7gpXw8wibQKAzsHugqgTlngcsEI4v7EvKcEze4N4C6FcnOGX6CwJ
M
THE WORLD Health Organization (WHO) will send vaccines against Type 2 polio to
the Philippines next month after the government reported at least two polio cases last
week.

The Department of Health (DoH) confirmed the polio cases this month after 19 years
since the country was declared free of the disease.

The Health department had asked the WHO to release their stock of oral polio vaccines
that will prevent Type 2 polio, WHO Country Representative Rabindra R. Abeyasinghe
said at a forum hosted by Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines.

“The government of the Philippines has now requested the WHO to release vaccines
from that stockpile to protect the children,” he said.

The first polio case this month was from Lanao del Sur province in southern Philippines,
while the second case was from Laguna province near the capital.

Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III earlier urged parents and caregivers of children
below five years old to take part in the polio vaccination to be scheduled in various
communities nationwide.
Type 2 Polio was eradicated in 2015, and vaccines produced since 2016 are only
effective in preventing Type 1 and Type 3 polio.

Polio is caused by the poliovirus that infects the brain and spinal cord, causing paralysis
or even death. There are no cures for polio but there are vaccines for its prevention.

The vaccines will be shipped to the Philippines within seven to 10 days, Mr. Abeyasinghe
said. The Type 2 oral polio vaccine will first be given to Lanao del Sur and Davao, then
to the rest of the Mindanao region and Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim
Mindanao for the second and third rounds.

More than having the vaccines, the Philippines must adopt a better strategy to improve
the vaccination coverage, Mr. Abeyasinghe told reporters.

For a country to be free from polio, the national vaccination coverage should be 95%.
The Philippines had a vaccination coverage of 66% last year.

“If we do the vaccination the way we normally do, you’re seeing another outbreak in
another couple of years,” the WHO official said.

Improving hygiene and sanitation also helps because the polio virus thrives in dirty areas
and is extremely infectious.

DoH and Rotary International earlier signed a memorandum of agreement to increase

polio awareness and strengthen a vaccination campaign against the resurgence of the
virus.

The agency said the Rotary’s 10 districts will support the polio vaccination campaign
through fund raising, advocacy and volunteer recruitment.

The DoH-Metro Manila Center for Health Development will conduct three rounds of
supplemental oral polio immunization for children under five years old.
The Health department said it would intensify monitoring of children below five years
who have developed sudden muscle weakness or paralysis of the upper and lower
extremities.

Health officials on Tuesday told senators they lack manpower to enforce a nationwide
immunization program, after reports that a lower vaccine coverage had led to outbreaks
of certain diseases including polio.

During a Senate hearing on Tuesday, Health medical specialist Anthony Calibo said the
agency has lacked technical assistance in its immunization programs for the past few
years.

He said DoH had proposed to create an immunization unit to address the resurgence of
diseases but this was disapproved. 

Analysis:

Polio has no cure and it is a disease that may lead us to death. Polio virus strives in
dirty areas and is extremely infectious, so in order to avoid that, we must prevent our
young generation by improving hygiene and sanitation, and by giving them vaccinations
while they’re still at their young age because prevention is better than cure. We should be
aware and cautious on our Filipino citizens because we are as one, we are family. We
cannot let our family die because of virus for not having them vaccinated because of poor
strategy, we must move. They must improve and adopt a better strategy to improve
vaccination coverage as what Mr. Abeyasinghe said, because if we do the vaccination the
way we are doing it right now, then it is already over.