Iloilo City govt says pertussis is 80% controlled

ILOILO CITY – The pertussis outbreak in this city is 80 percent controlled, and the city health office is considering lifting the state of calamity declared due to the disease by the end of the month. 

Even with the lifting authorities will continue with the immunization as they have a system in place, said City Health Officer Annabelle Tang in a press conference on Monday.

“We are open to lifting it with the approval of the mayor and the council by the end of the month. We are successful with our strategies,” she added.

At the same time, they have staff trained on what to do, a master list of those who need to be vaccinated, and prophylaxis medicines.

Iloilo City recorded its last confirmed case of pertussis on April 17, a boy, one-year and eight months, said Assistant City Health Officer Roland Jay Fortuna in the same media conference.

He added that they have vaccinated 8,689 children as part of the outbreak response immunization (ORI). 

“Because of the limited number of vaccines, we are focusing on the 0 to 12 months to have three doses. So we are on targeted outbreak response immunization,” he said.

Further, 741 of the 926 target pregnant women received their tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis (TDAP) vaccines

“We still have vaccine available although limited that is why we target 0 to 12 to complete three doses,” he added.

The Department of Health augmented 6,000 doses of vaccines while the city government purchased 4,150 doses using the quick response fund, 1,509 vaccines from the additional drugs and medicines reserve fund, and 1,200 doses of TDAP taken from drugs and medicines expenses biological fund.

Tang advised the public to always be mindful of their hygiene and not bring unvaccinated babies in crowded places since pertussis is an infectious disease. (PNA)