Garin pushes vaccination catch-up plan vs. pertussis, other illnesses

The government should implement a catch-up plan to vaccinate as many Filipinos and strengthen their defenses against pertussis and other illnesses, Iloilo Representative Janette Garin said.

“There should be a catch-up plan, meaning, those babies who are yet to get vaccinated, we have to track them and have them vaccinated. Those who are yet to be vaccinated against polio, measles...those with incomplete doses, those who are yet to get DPT (Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus) ...they have to catch up with the needed vaccination,” said the former Health secretary.

“It will not be as effective as when they are vaccinated at the right age, but it will still be a lot better because that is still protection,” she added.

The Department of Health (DOH) had said that 568 pertussis cases were logged from January 1 to March 16, 2024, which were more than 20 times higher than the recorded cases during the same period last year, which was 26. 

Forty deaths due to the highly contagious bacterial respiratory infection have also been reported so far. 

The DOH announced a week ago that a million doses of vaccine against pertussis will be arriving by June this year. 

Infectious disease expert Dr. Rontgene Solante called on the government to increase the budget for the procurement of vaccines for senior citizens because their high cost contributes to vaccine hesitancy.

Health Secretary Ted Herbosa said in August 2023 that the Philippines has been having low vaccine coverage among children since 2013.  He added that the percentage of fully immunized children only reached 59.9% in 2022 which is very far from the DOH's target of 95%. 

Herbosa had said that every child needs to be vaccinated with one dose of Bacilli Calmette–Guérin vaccine for tuberculosis; three doses of oral polio vaccine; three doses of DPT; Hepatitis B vaccine; and two doses of measles, mumps, rubella vaccine. 

“Our immunization rates remained low. This has been true over the years since 2013… Our fully immunized child had been below 80% yearly and our fully immunized child target of 95% is a far-off target,” he said. 

In November 2023, Herbosa also reported that the measles cases recorded in the country increased by almost 300% from January 1 to October 14, 2023 compared to the same period in 2022.

Infectious diseases expert Dr. Rontgene Solante said then that such a spike in cases was expected due to the low measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination rate among children. 

Garin lamented the public’s "lingering lack of confidence" in government vaccines, which was a result of the controversy of the anti-dengue vaccine Dengvaxia implemented during the Aquino administration when she was the DOH chief.

Garin said that the filing of charges against her and other then DOH officials due to dengvaxia implementation gave the public the wrong impression that vaccines kill when such a conclusion is false. 

“Ang nangyayari akala tuloy ng tao totoong nakakamatay iyong bakuna. Pero kitang-kita naman natin na hindi totoo. Kasi buong mundo patuloy na gumagamit ng bakuna. So, we go back. Ano ang dapat gawin?" she said.

"Dapat matuldukan iyong issue na meron bang namatay because of the vaccine or wala ba? Kung merong namatay dapat may managot at ikulong, kung ano ang dapat gawin duon sa mga perpetrators, kung meron. Kung wala naman at nakikitang wala, huwag nang idelay ng idelay,” she added.

(What is happening is that people think vaccines kill when it is not true. Vaccines are being used worldwide. What should we do now? We should end this issue or settle if somebody indeed died because of the vaccine. If someone really did, then perpetrators should be held accountable. But if no one is at fault, the case should not drag on.) —LDF, GMA Integrated News