Stop the blame game, focus on controlling measles outbreak —Red Cross official

Instead of engaging in the blame game, an official of the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) called for objectivity and focus on the solution in controlling the measles outbreak. 

“Maging objective tayo and let us focus on controlling the outbreak,” Susan Mercado, secretary general of PRC and head of the Center for Health and Humanitarian Action in her interview on "Balitanghali."

Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Francisco Duque III earlier said that the remarks of Public Attorneys' Office chief Persida Acosta have contributed to a “decline in vaccine confidence and a rise in cases of measles and other vaccine preventable diseases.”

Acosta is at the forefront of cases of families whose children have died supposedly after receiving Dengvaxia shots.

Mercado said intense vaccination program and education of parents are the only solutions to control the ongoing outbreak in measles.

However, she clarified said that several factors contributed to the outbreak and not the Dengvaxia controversy alone.

She believed that the immunization program was not a priority in the country for the past years which also caused the outbreak.

“Ang pagbagsak ng coverage ng mga bata ay nangyari sa mahabang panahon. At marami pang iba’t ibang factors ang nag-cocontribute diyan,” Mercado said.

“Ngayon dekada ang dumaan, na pababa nang pababa ito—umaakyat, bumababa—kaya kung titignan natin anong nangyari matagal na panahon ang lumipas na hindi prayoridad ang pagbabakuna,” she said.

Meanwhile, former Health secretary Dr. Esperanza Cabral of Doctors for Truth and Public Welfare said that the clarification on the safety of other vaccines should be reiterated to the public.

"Dapat paulit-ulit ang clarification nila… Kailangan ganun din kadalas ang pagpunta nila sa TV, sa radio, sa dyaryo,” Cabral said in a separate interview on Balitanghali.

She advised the DOH to speed up their vaccination of children especially in areas hit by an outbreak.

Cabral suggested President Rodrigo Duterte to visit and talk in the most affected areas to educate the public, considering that most of the Filipinos believe him.

"Bilang pangulo ng ating bansa, siya dapat ang magpunta doon at magsalita na sabihin na kailangan kayong magpabakuna," Cabral said.

The number of deaths due to measles already climbed to 70 as of February 9.  —LDF, GMA News