Health secretary stunned over “low” coverage of immunization

November 10, 2017

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said he was "shocked" at how has  immunization coverage fallen since he was at the helm of the department in 2010.

In his speech at the 18th Philippine National Immunization Conference (PNIC), Duque admitted that he was not expecting a steep fall of immunization coverage.

"Immunized children is far from the 95 percent coverage and, in fact, has fallen to nearly 70 percent in 2016," said Duque. "I was shocked when I found out," he said.

He said this is unacceptable considering vaccination is important.

"Vaccine is one of our weapons that have significant impact to society by saving millions of children's lives yearly," said Duque.

According to health department spokesman Lyndon Lee Suy, the decrease in vaccination coverage could be attributed to the failure to immunize those in "hard to reach areas" of the country.

He said fourth and fifth class municipalities are far from local health centers.

"It will actually take them a lot of hours before reaching health centers to avail of the free vaccinations," said Lee Suy.

He said this is why the health department is sending health workers to conduct vaccination in remote areas.

"We will mobilize health workers in order to really make sure that, if they cannot come to us, we will be coming to them for us to provide the vaccines they should be provided for free," said Lee Suy. DMS