Doctors want meningococcal vaccine in Nat'l Immunization Program

Infectious disease experts on Thursday called for the addition of the vaccine for meningococcal disease, a contagious bacterial infection, in the government's National Immunization Program (NIP).

Anna Ong-Lim, chief of the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH) Division of Infectious and Tropical Disease, said during a roundtable discussion that invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) is a condition caused by an organism called "Neisseria meningitidis." It is found in the nose and throat and is a common cause of illness among young children.

Its symptoms include fever, headache, stiff neck, and rash. The disease can be transmitted through respiratory droplets from coughing, sneezing, or close contact with an infected person.

Ong-Lim stressed that IMD can quickly escalate from mild symptoms to a life-threatening condition within just 24 hours.

"The mortality rate is quite high. The average even in advanced health facilities… is not very good. Our case fatality rate is 50 percent, so meaning, in every two patients that are diagnosed and proved to be meningococcemia, one of them will die," the doctor said.

In the past six years, she noted that Serogroup B has been the most common meningococcal strain across all age groups in the Philippines. However, the corresponding vaccine is not yet readily available in the county.

Philippine Foundation for Vaccination executive director Lulu Bravo lamented the long process to include a vaccine in the NIP to help fight vaccine-preventable diseases among Filipino children.

She said the budget, resources, and burden of disease, among others, need to be considered in the process.

"Ito pong meningococcal sana nga in the future pagka pinag-aralan na nila ang burden of disease, ang mga serious na sakit, na 'yan ay madaling makamatay, malalaman po nila na dapat nasa immunization program na natin 'yan," Bravo said.

(Hopefully in the future, once the government has studied the burden of disease and realized that it can be really fatal, they should add the vaccine for meningococcal disease in our immunization program.)

"Actually, ang daming hinihingi sana na mailagay sa NIP. 'Yang meningococcal, sa ibang bansa, nandu'n na. If you look at the vaccination strategy ng ibang bansa, nandu'n po 'yan. Kaya lang dito sa atin… hindi pa kaya ng gobyerno," she added.

(Actually, we're requesting a lot of vaccines to be included in the NIP. The meningococcal vaccine is already included in other countries' immunization programs. However, our government here in the Philippines can't do that yet.)

Data by the Department of Health (DOH) showed there were 176 meningococcal disease cases reported from Jan. 1 to Dec. 2, 2023, about 22% higher than the 144 cases recorded during the same period in 2022.

In 2023, there were 73 people who died from the disease, posing a case fatality rate of 41.5%.

Most cases were logged in the National Capital Region at 29, followed by Calabarzon with 27, and Mimaropa with 26.

The DOH currently aims to completely immunize 95% of Filipino children against vaccine-preventable diseases.

In the past year, the Philippines' immunization campaign has shown significant improvement, with the country finally exiting the list of the top 20 countries with the most "zero-dose" children.

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines "zero-dose" children as those who have missed out on any vaccination, who "lack access to or are never reached by routine immunization services."

Meanwhile, a fully immunized child is someone who has received one dose of bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine for tuberculosis; three doses of oral polio vaccine (OPV); three doses of diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, Hib, and Hepatitis B (pentavalent) vaccine; and two doses of the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine. — VDV, GMA Integrated News