MORE than 1.11 million Grade 1 students were vaccinated against measles-rubella through the school-based immunization program.

Health Secretary Dr. Teodoro Herbosa said this figure represents 67.63 percent of the target students at that grade level.

Additionally, 939,062 or 59.92 percent of Grade 7 students were vaccinated.

According to records, the Cordillera Administrative Region had the highest number of Grade 1 students who received MR and Tetanus-Diphtheria vaccines, followed by Caraga with 95.58 percent for MR and 95.57 percent for TD, and Northern Mindanao with 94.82 percent for MR and 94.73 percent for TD.

Northern Mindanao had the highest number of Grade 7 students vaccinated for MR and TD, followed by CAR with 93.44 percent for both, and Caraga with 91.80 percent for MR and 91.78 percent for TD.

Additionally, 505,010 female Grade 4 students were vaccinated against human papillomavirus (HPV).

The top three regions with the most HPV-immunized students are Caraga (123.18% coverage), Ilocos Region (100.48%), and Northern Mindanao (99.60%).

Herbosa noted that the two-month SBIP resulted in low coverage percentages.

“Every vaccination is complicated. We need more support for the SBIP,” he said.

“The problem is that the mRNA vaccine campaign was recently launched, and it caused some confusion in social media, which affected trust in traditional vaccines,” he added.

“I think we need to rebuild trust and confidence in vaccines, especially after COVID-19. The measles and pertussis outbreaks have proven our approach is right. We’ve seen that when people don’t get vaccinated, the number of deaths from measles and pertussis increases,” he said.

Herbosa also acknowledged that the Department of Health (DOH) fell short in engaging parents who signed consent forms for the vaccination.

“We didn’t campaign enough with parents. Our focus should be on working with the parents and PTAs to emphasize the value of vaccinating their children,” he said.

The program aims to immunize at least 3.8 million public school students enrolled in Grades 1 and 7.