Immunization week starts

CEBU, Philippines — With the country’s goal to fully immunize Filipinos, the Department of Health Central Visayas Center for Health Development (DOH CVCHD) officially launched the World Immunization Week 2025 last Wednesday at SM City Cebu.

With the theme “Magpabakuna! Bakuna sa lahat, kayang-kaya!” the campaign highlights the importance of vaccination as a vital public health approach, urging people of all ages to get immunized and help build a healthier, safer community.

According to DOH CVCHD assistant regional director Dr. Sophia Mancao, each vaccine dose given represents hope and that good health is a right for all --young and old alike.

“Sa matag hatag nato sa bakuna adunay paglaum na kinabuhi,” she emphasized

Cebu City Health Department head Dr. Daisy Villa also stressed the importance of educating parents, especially mothers, about the benefits of vaccines.

“Ang atong mga katawhan, labi na ang inahan, labi na ang ginikanan, kinahanglang mapasabot kung unsa ang bakuna,” she said.

The event gathered barangay health workers, medical experts, parents, children, and senior citizens to promote immunization awareness.

Free vaccinations were offered onsite for eligible individuals across different age groups.

For infants aged 0 to 12 months, the health department will continue to provide vaccines against tuberculosis, polio, pneumonia, measles, mumps, rubella, and the pentavalent vaccine. These vaccines protect children during their most vulnerable years.

Girls aged nine to 14 will receive the HPV vaccine to help prevent cervical cancer, one of the leading causes of death among Filipino women.

Meanwhile, pregnant women will get tetanus-diphtheria shots to protect both mother and baby.

Senior citizens are also prioritized in this year’s campaign wherein they will receive flu and pneumonia shots to reduce hospitalizations and complications.

Dr. Kimberly Basilla of the Philippine Pediatric Community in Central Visayas held a seminar wherein participants were explained the essence of being vaccinated. Basilla noted that vaccines train the body’s immune system to defend itself without causing disease.

Citing the World Health Organization (WHO), Basilla said vaccines save millions of lives every year.

She added that vaccines provide protection against more than 20 life-threatening diseases, including COVID-19, cervical cancer, measles, influenza, pneumonia, and hepatitis B.

She encouraged people of all life stages --infants, children, adolescents, adults, and the elderly to follow updated immunization schedules for optimal protection.

“Vaccine recommendations may change by age, but the need for protection does not,” said Basilla.

In a website from WHO, since the establishment of the Expanded Program on Immunization in 1974, vaccines have saved an estimated 154 million lives.

This also translates to more than three million lives per year or six lives every minute for the past 50 years.

As 2025 marks the midpoint of the Immunization Agenda 2030, the DOH pushes on expanding access to new and more effective vaccines, reaching even more children and communities in the coming years.

The World Immunization Week is observed annually from April 23 to 30 which serves as a global call to action to promote the life-saving benefits of vaccines and close the immunization gap across all humanity. — /BRP (FREEMAN)