The Philippine Red Cross (PRC) has completed nearly 80% of its target for the immunization drive running from November 25 to December 7. In only 3 days they have vaccinated a total of 78,479 children from Metro Manila and Mindanao against polio. Their aim is to vaccinate 100,000 children in the National Capital Region (NCR) and Mindanao.
(Polio Reappears In The Philippines After 19 Years)
According to the PRC, its teams have administered the oral polio vaccine (OPV) to 41,810 children in Metro Manila and 36,669 children in Mindanao. They were able to accomplish this by mobilizing 1,181 volunteers and 70 staff members who conducted house-to-house visits. The teams were responsible for briefing households on the vaccine as well as administering it.
PRC Chairman Richard Gordon shared his commendations for the staff and volunteers. “I commend our hardworking volunteers for doing a great job. In just three days, we already hit 78 percent of our target number of children to be vaccinated. Thank you for supporting PRC,” he said in a statement.
Polio is a communicable disease that can be spread through the fecal to mouth route or through water and food contaminated by the virus. The Philippines had previously been polio-free for 19 years until only a few months ago. Its reemergence has been attributed to the drop in vaccination.
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