Metro Manila, Philippines – More than one million children in Mindanao have so far received vaccines against measles and rubella during the first week of the government’s “Ligtas Tigdas” drive, the Department of Health (DOH) reported Saturday, Jan. 24.
According to the DOH, the figure covered 36 percent of 2.8 million children aged 6 months to 59 months (or under 5 years old), the target in Mindanao and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) under the measles-rubella supplemental immunization activity.
Northern Mindanao has vaccinated over 230,000 children against the highly contagious viral diseases, the highest so far during the first phase of the program.
The DOH prioritized Mindanao as around 42 percent of last year’s measles-rubella cases were logged in the island group, with Zamboanga Peninsula, Northern Mindanao, Soccsksargen, and BARMM having high incidence rates.
It said the immunization activity in Mindanao, which started on Jan. 19, will run until February.
For the second phase, the agency is eyeing to administer the vaccines to 5.6 million children in Luzon and 1.9 million children in Visayas in June.
In 2025, the DOH logged over 5,100 cases of measles and rubella, which was around 32 percent higher than the 3,880 infections year-on-year. Around 73 percent of the infected were unvaccinated.
