Vaccines as life-saving tools

BALANGA CITY, Bataan – Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Francisco T. Duque III yesterday stressed among multi-stakeholders, both in public and private, the crucial role of immunization in preventing unnecessary suffering and death particularly among vulnerable groups such as children and women.

Secretary Duque who a message on the 19th Philippine National Immunization Conference of the Philippine Foundation for Vaccination (PFV) in partnership with the Philippine Pediatric Society –Central Luzon Chapter and Bataan Provincial Health Office held at Lois Restaurant this City said that vaccines are effective and safe, one of the five data on vaccination that are advocated by the World Health Organization in its global campaign to save more lives and reduce the burden of vaccine –preventable diseases especially among children worldwide.

The 19th PNIC theme ,”Changing landscapes of immunization in the Philippines” aims to identify and address past hurdles, present setbacks and future struggles in providing universal access to immunization.

Duque explained the WHO affirmed the efficacy of licensed vaccines in preventing deadly illnesses with their capability to provide better immunity ; the safety and benefits of giving age-specific vaccines to more children and the importance of vaccines in controlling and preventing epidemics from returning because viruses and bacteria that cause these diseases may still exist.

The latest conference is held for the 7th time outside of the National Capital Region. This kind of conference is targeting to reach more health care workers and vaccine stakeholders in the countryside with support coming from participating vaccine advocates such as medical and health practitioners and representatives from both private and public sectors.
Citing WHO statistics, Secretary Duque said the global vaccination of children has improved with 116 million or 86 percent children worldwide receiving basic vaccines every year but more work still needed to reach the remaining 19 million children.

Secretary Duque also commended Bataan Governor Albert Raymond S. Garcia for his extraordinary accomplishment on good governance which focuses on the health, education, job generation and other social amelioration program of improving the quality of life of the residents.

He added that the youthful governor of one of the most progressive provinces in Central Luzon has guaranteed that the health facilities of the provincial government are accessible, managed by competent and committed health workers of providing quality services and actively collaborating with various sectors in health service delivery.