QUEZON CITY, (PIA) --Every year, the World Immunization Week is observed last week of April.

The observance is an opportunity to raise awareness of the urgent and critical need to find and vaccinate children who missed vaccine that help to protect them from illness, disability, and death.

This year, under the theme ‘The Big Catch-Up’, the Department of Health (DOH), will hold free immunization in health centers nationwide.

In the National Capital Region (NCR), the DOH’s Metro Manila Center for Health Development (MCHD), will launch a supplemental immunization campaign for measles, rubella, and oral polio from May 1 to 31.

The month-long campaign seeks to immunize 95 percent of children aged nine months to less than 5 years old against measles and rubella, as well as at least 95 percent of children aged zero to less than five years old against bivalent polio.

The Epidemiology Bureau of the DOH has observed an exponential rise in epidemic-prone disease, particularly measles, in its year-end report for 2022. The statistics indicated an 186% increase from 2021.

To get back on track, and make “The Big Catch-Up”, the World Health Organization (WHO) is working with partners to accelerate rapid progress in countries to ensure more children, adults, and communities are protected from preventable diseases.

“We need to reach millions of children who missed out on vaccines, restore essential immunization coverage to at least 2019 levels, strengthen primary health care to deliver immunization and build lasting protection in communities and countries,” the World Health Organization stated on their website. (PIA-NCR)