Over 500 children received the Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) during the first two hours of the âSabayang Patak Kontra Polioâ as hundreds of parents trooped to the city health centers and malls during the nationwide anti-polio immunization drive on Monday.
However, this will only be the first of a series of OPV immunization drive of the city government. The City Health Office (CHO) will give OPV to children until the end of the week.
CHO chief Dr. Josephine Villafuerte said the city government is targeting a 100-percent immunization rate for children 5 years old and below.
Villafuerte said that although there is no polio case recorded in the city, it did not mean that Dabawenyos should be complacent following the type 2 poliovirus found in the water sample taken from the Davao River last month.
âWe still reiterate our call to all the parents to please let your children be vaccinated. Open your doors to our personnel for vaccination,â she said.
Villafuerte said the campaign will run for the entire week.
âHopefully the parents will not wait at the end of the week, we hope that they will come to our centers or have their children vaccinated in the malls since we have booths there and they can also go to the private and public hospitals,â she said.
The vaccination will be given free including those given in the private since the OPV vaccine for type 2 poliovirus comes from the Department of Health (DOH).
In 2015, the wild poliovirus type 2 was already declared eradicated. It only resurfaced in August this year. CIO
