The second vaccination drive for the bivalent oral polio vaccine (bOPV) concluded with a 108% coverage for its target population of children ages 0 – 10 years old in Zamboanga City, the City Health Office (CHO) reported Monday.

From February 17 to March 1, local health teams vaccinated a total of 221,917 children with the bOPV as part of the nationwide Sabayang Patak Kontra Polio spearheaded by the Department of Health (DOH) to contain and eradicate polio in the country.

City Health Officer Dr. Dulce Miravite announced that the third round for the bOPV will be held from March 23 to April 4 for children less than 10 years old.

Following a re-emergence of the polio virus last year, the CHO has jointly spearheaded several immunization rounds for monovalent (mOPV) and bOPV to eligible children ages 5 years below for mOPV and 10 years below, regardless of immunization status.

For the mOPV, the two vaccination rounds achieved 103% (Round 1 – Nov. 25, 2019 to Dec. 7, 2019) and 110% coverage (Round 2 – January 20 to February 2).

For the bOPV, the first round was held from January 6 – 12, and achieved 105% coverage.

The local government continues to encourage parents and guardians to bring their children to health centers to be vaccinated and to cooperate with local health workers. (Jasmine Mohammadsali)