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DOH: At 61%, PH still far behind child immunization target


Currently at 61%, the Philippines remains short of its target of completely immunizing 95% of children against vaccine-preventable diseases, an official of the Department of Health (DOH) said Thursday.

 During the National Immunization Summit 2025, DOH Disease Prevention and Control Bureau director Dr. Gerard Belimac said that as of December 2024, the fully immunized children in the country stood at 1.4 million or 61%.

“While we have made progress, such as reducing the number of zero-dose children and exiting the global Top 20, our fully immunized children rates and coverages for antigen remain below 95% throughout the years,” Belimac said.

“These numbers are not just statistics, they represent children left vulnerable to vaccine-preventable diseases and families burdened with preventable suffering,” he pointed out.

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

With a 95% target, the DOH aims to vaccinate every Filipino child below 1 year old with 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 measles containing vaccine (MCV).

DOH Assistant Secretary Farwa Hombre explained that if the Philippines doesn’t reach its 95% target, there might be an outbreak of diseases that should have been eradicated through vaccines.

“Kagaya na lamang po ng polio vaccine. Matagal na po may bakuna, pero Year 20 something lang po totally na-eradicate. Kung hindi po natin mapapabakunahan ang ating mga anak, ay muling babalik po ito. Ayaw po natin na magkaroon muli ng may mga sakit o kapansanan sa ating henerasyon,” she said.

(Like polio, there has been a vaccine for this for a long time already, but it was only totally eradicated recently at Year 20. If we don't vaccinate our children, it will come back again. We don't want our generation to be plagued by preventable diseases or disabilities.)

The Health official also said that vaccine hesitancy remains to be a big factor why many children in the country are still not fully immunized.

“Because of the social media, may mga nababasa po sila ngayon na nagko-contradict po doon sa tinuturo natin na matagal na epektibo nga po ang bakuna. Pero dahil po may mga anti-vaxxers po na naglalabasan ngayon, medyo do’n po kami nagkakaroon ng problema at mas naniniwala po sila sa fake news,” Hombre told reporters.

(Because of social media, people read about incorrect information that contradicts what we have been saying that vaccines are effective. But because there are many anti-vaxxers right now and people tend to believe more in fake news, we are faced with a problem.)

Despite still being far from its 95% target, the Philippines' immunization campaign still showed a significant improvement in 2023, with the country finally exiting the list of the top 20 countries with the most "zero-dose" children.

Hombre reiterated that vaccines are proven safe and effective, and can protect people, especially young children, against a wide range of diseases.

“Napakahalaga po ng kooperasyon ng bawat magulang… So kung hindi po natin papayagan na mabakunahan ng ating mga anak, nilalagay po natin sila sa kapahamakan, sa mga sakit na dapat po ay naiiwasan natin gamit ang bakuna,” she added.

(The cooperation of every parent is very important... If we don't allow our children to be vaccinated, we are putting them in harm's way, and they become vulnerable to diseases that can be prevented through vaccines.) —RF, GMA Integrated News

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