Measles, polio cases drop during pandemic: DOH

MANILA – A health official on Tuesday said cases of measles, polio and other vaccine-preventable diseases have gone down during the pandemic probably due to observation of minimum public health standards nationwide.

“Kung ikukumpara from the previous years bago mag-pandemiya, malaki ang binaba ng counts ng mga sakit na ito. Ang tigdas, makikita natin (If we compare the previous years, pre-pandemic, the counts of these diseases decreased largely) from the start of the year, we only have a cumulative total of 26 measles cases from January to March 5 of this year,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said during an online media forum.

As for polio, about 75 cases were recorded during the same period.

“This is not actually polio, this is acute flaccid paralysis, kailangan pa natin ikumpirma kung polio talaga ‘yan (we need to confirm if it’s really polio),” Vergeire said.

Citing studies worldwide, Vergeire explained cases of different infectious diseases have gone on a downtrend as individuals observe minimum public health standards when the pandemic started.

“We know that measles is airborne, we know that other disease like polio, nakukuha sa tubig sa ating (can be contracted through our) hygienic practices,” she said. “And we know everybody’s washing their hands, laging nag-a-alcohol, so, nakakabawas po talaga ‘yan (always using alcohol, so, it decreases possibility of infection)”.

On the other hand, there could have been an underreporting of cases of measles, polio and other vaccine preventable diseases because the focus of the healthcare workers is Covid-19 response and people lost access to non-Covid health services.

In connection to this, Vergeire said inoculation coverage for vaccine preventable diseases is low and routine immunization dropped nationwide during the pandemic.

“Meron po tayong parating na catch up vaccination and supplemental immunization that will start in April ito ay magtutuloy-tuloy hanggang Hunyo para maabot natin, para tumaas ang ating antas ng pagbabakuna, maprevent parin po natin ang mga (We have an upcoming catch up vaccination and supplemental immunization that will start in April until June so we can reach, to increase our vaccine coverage, protect the) susceptible or unvaccinated children in our population in coming months or weeks because it’s summer time already,” she added.

In the same media forum, infectious diseases expert Dr. Edsel Salvana noted missed vaccinations can lead to outbreaks so catching up on kids’ immunization is important.

Salvana advised parents to bring their children to pediatricians for catch up vaccination.

“That doesn’t start from scratch, kahit ma-delay, okay lang yan, basta mahabol (even if it’s delayed, that’s okay, just catch up),” he said.