With the various disease outbreak happening now in the country, immunization remains the most effective protection of the body against diseases especially for children. To continue the advocacy of promoting the use of vaccines for the body’s immunity, the 4th week of April is observed as the World Immunization Week with the theme “#VaccinesWorkForAll” by the World Health Organization (WHO). The campaign aims to create awareness on how vaccines, the people who develop, deliver and receive vaccines are considered heroes by their continued efforts in working to protect the health of the people all over the globe.
Vaccines do a remarkable job in protecting the body from various diseases. They work by assisting the immune system to recognize and combat harmful microorganisms, may it be viruses or bacteria. If children are not vaccinated, their body are more vulnerable to life-threatening diseases such as measles, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, hepatitis, polio and many more. According to the data from United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), childhood immunization coverage in the Philippines has been declining sharply in the recent years; from 87 percent in 2014 to 68 percent in 2019. With the current outbreak of COVID-19, routine immunization services have been suspended due to the implementation of the Enhanced Community Quarantine in various areas in the country, this may result to the continuous declining of children immunization coverage causing more threat to the children’s health especially from vaccine preventable diseases.
Every child poses the right to attain the best possible health care and protection from diseases through vaccination, and this has been supported by Republic Act 10152 or the Act of Mandatory Infants and Children Health Immunization. This act includes the mandatory free immunization for infants to children up to five years of age at any health centers and government hospitals. This means that there should be no child left unimmunized since vaccines are available at any time without cost.
It takes the cooperation of everyone to increase the immunization coverage in the country. It requires the joint efforts of all health workers, parents, local leaders and everyone in the community to ensure that all children especially the most vulnerable and the disadvantaged individuals are immunized. Right information dissemination must also be practiced to eradicate the misleading information associated with immunization. Together with a healthy lifestyle, well-balanced diet and complete vaccination, the body’s immunity against diseases will be stronger.
Photo Source: World Health Organization
NO I Angelica O. Pajulas
