Only 17.08 percent of infants in the province of Iloilo received full routine immunization in the first quarter of 2025, data from the Provincial Health Office (PHO) showed.
The figure translates to just 6,745 children aged 0 to 12 months out of the 39,488 eligible children across the province.
According Dr. Rodney Labis, head of PHO’s Health Service Delivery Division, several factors contributed to the low coverage, including widespread vaccine hesitancy fueled by misinformation and conspiracy theories circulating on social media.
“The biggest challenge is still vaccine hesitancy due to false information. We are working hard to counter this with proper health education,” he said.
“We advise them to coordinate with your midwives and nurses. Vaccines are free, safe, and proven to protect children from deadly diseases,” Labis added.
With the low immunization turnout, he said the vast majority of infants remain vulnerable to preventable illnesses such as tuberculosis, polio, hepatitis, pneumonia, and measles.
The town of Oton posted the highest number of unvaccinated infants totaling to 331, followed by Pototan with 322 and Passi City with 312.
Labis noted that Iloilo’s routine immunization coverage has steadily declined in recent years — from 74% in 2020, to 70% in 2021, 63% in 2022, 69% in 2023, and back to 74% in 2024 — never reaching the Department of Health’s (DOH) ideal 95%.
Routine immunization includes the following vaccines: Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) for tuberculosis, Hepatitis B, Pentavalent for diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, pneumonia, meningitis and hepatitis, Oral and Inactivated Polio Vaccines, Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine, and the Measles, Mumps, Rubella (MMR) vaccine.IMT
