The city government of Makati announced on Tuesday it is extending for two more weeks the free dengue vaccination program for children aged 9 to 14.
“I’m encouraging parents of children who have yet to be vaccinated to bring their children to the health centers or allow them to be vaccinated in their respective schools,” Mayor Abigail Binay said.
The local government extended the program beginning Monday (Sept. 4) and will last until Sept. 15 in all the city’s 26 barangay health centers.
Makati Health Department officer-in-charge Bernard Sese explained that children should be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian when availing of the vaccine since they are minors.
This Saturday, all health centers will also be open from 8 a.m. to noon to accommodate children whose parents cannot accompany them on weekdays.
Sese said MHD teams will also be going house to house to administer the vaccine to target recipients who are unable to go to the health center. He also assured that there will be a separate line as well as dedicated personnel assigned for anti-dengue vaccination at the health centers.
The MHD’s earlier vaccination drive ran for 11 days and covered all health centers as well as 39 public schools all over the city.
Sese said they could vaccinate close to 15,000 children. He noted that the extension will cover defaulters as well as those who have earlier been tagged as deferred. The initial list of students was based on data from the Department of Education.
However, the MHD said they will look for children between the ages of 9 and 14 who may be at a different grade level.
The extension of the vaccination program also gives children who may not be in school the opportunity to receive the anti-dengue vaccine. Nurse Lea Torio of DepEd Makati said the MHD is targeting 48,419 children.
The vaccine being administered by MHD personnel and school nurses covers all four strains of the dengue virus. The vaccines will be administered in three separate doses. This means that children who received the vaccines between August and September will be receiving a second dose in February 2018; and the third and final dose in August 2018.
The MHD earlier received some 65,000 dengue vaccines from the Department of Health.
Acting on Binay’s directive, the MHD mobilized doctors and nurses for the community-based vaccination. To cover more ground, health representatives also went around public elementary schools and high schools.
The age range of 9 to 14 years was set by the DoH because this is reportedly the age that is most receptive to the vaccine. The anti-dengue vaccine is meant to boost immunity against the dengue virus which is prevalent during the rainy season. The Aedes aegypti mosquito, the carrier of dengue, also transmits the Zika and Chikungunya viruses.
The community-based vaccination program is part of the city’s larger campaign for dengue prevention. To strengthen the program, the MHD has also been organizing clean up drives, doing preventive misting operations as well as holding health education seminars in the barangay and school levels to help prevent the spread of dengue.