Joint Press Release | 19 April 2024

This year’s celebration of World Immunization Week marks the 50 years
of the Essential Programme on Immunization (EPI), a global endeavor to
ensure equitable access to life-saving vaccines for every child,
regardless of their geographic location and socioeconomic status.

Through its local campaign “50 Years of Immunization: Kapag Bakuna ay
Kumpleto, Lahat Protektado!”, the Department of Health (DOH), in
collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), the United
Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and partners, emphasizes the
achievements of the Philippines to protect children, adolescents,
pregnant women, and the elderly against vaccine-preventable diseases
(VPDs), while raising concern on the global resurgence of outbreaks.

“Immunization is an essential part of primary health care. We urge
national and local governments, civil society organizations, private
sector, and community members to work together to improve the
vaccination programme in the Philippines. Every child deserves to be
protected from vaccine-preventable diseases,” said WHO Representative
to the Philippines, Dr. Rui Paulo de Jesus.

Although vaccination has saved millions of lives in the past five
decades, protecting vulnerable communities against VPDs remains a
challenge. The measles outbreak in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in
Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) and the localized pertussis outbreaks in Luzon
and Visayas entail that more work needs to be done.

According to the 2022 WHO and UNICEF Estimates of National
Immunization Coverage (WUENIC), there are 637,000 children in the
Philippines who have not been vaccinated, which puts them at a higher
risk of catching diseases.
“Vaccination is one of humanity’s greatest achievements. In the last
50 years alone, immunization has helped reduce child deaths globally
by more than 80 percent. In just five decades we’ve gone from a world
where the death of at least one child was something every parent
expected, to a world where every child has a chance. If you are
vaccinated, you hold a powerful shield that protects everyone else
from the threat of disease and death,” said UNICEF Representative to
the Philippines Oyunsaikhan Dendevnorov.

WHO has been providing technical assistance, disease surveillance, and
health worker training, while UNICEF has been procuring vaccines,
mobilizing additional human resources, strengthening the cold chain,
and engaging religious, community, and youth leaders to address
vaccine hesitancy.

“Immunization has been part of the foundation for Philippine progress
for half a century now. Routine vaccination has crushed Wild
Poliovirus transmission, polio outbreaks, and Maternal and Neonatal
Tetanus in the Philippines. Vaccines helped reopen our economy from
the lockdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic. Immunization is key to a
brighter, healthier future for all Filipinos. Magpabakuna po tayo
tungo sa isang Bagong Pilipinas, kung saan Bawat Buhay Mahalaga,”
expressed DOH Secretary Teodoro J. Herbosa.