Vaccine campaign underway to fight polio outbreak in the Philippines

2019-10-17 629

The Philippines initiated a vaccination campaign on October 14, 2019, nearly a month after Manila declared a polio outbreak on September 19.  The country had been free from the polio virus for almost two decades before two cases were confirmed. The Philippines has a low rate of vaccination according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), which blames declining public trust in vaccines as well as a lack of access to health care facilities.  The low rate of immunisation has increased the risk…