Health authorities in the province of Davao Oriental has reached its target of immunizing 80% of the population of under 5 year olds in the first 5 days of its 2-week anti-polio vaccination campaign.

City of Mati Health Officer Dr. Ben Hur Catbagan said that as of November 29, Davao Oriental has registered an average of 79.79% accomplishment rate.

Governor Generoso has the highest accomplishment rate of 88.29%, followed by Banaybanay with 86.72%; Lupon 83.43%; Tarragona 81.99%; Cateel 81.39%; Baganga 80.30%; Caraga 79.15%; Mati 78.99%; Boston 76.38%; Manay 67.66%; and San isidro 67.54%.

In the City of Mati, around 17,000 kids under 5 years old are targeted for vaccination.

The Mindanao-wide anti-polio vaccination campaign started on November 25 and will run until December 7.

Another round of immunization is scheduled on January 20 until February 2, 2020.

Catbagan said that they need to hit 95% coverage until December 7 to be able to establish a “herd immunity” for the target population.

A herd immunity is the resistance to the spread of a contagious disease within a population that results if a sufficiently high proportion of individuals are immune to the disease, especially through vaccination.

Herd immunity is usually achieved with an 83-94% level of vaccination.

Polio, or poliomyelitis, is a crippling and potentially deadly infectious disease. It is caused by the poliovirus. The virus spreads from person to person and can invade an infected person’s brain and spinal cord, causing paralysis. (CIO MATI)