UNICEF says the Philippines is among the countries with the highest number of unvaccinated children, who are most at risk.
The Philippine government has announced plans to administer three million doses of a vaccine against respiratory tract infections over the next three months, as an outbreak of whooping cough has killed many people.
Over the past five months, dozens of young children have died in the Philippines, with most of the recorded cases affecting children under the age of five.
The latest data from the Philippine Department of Health (DoH) showed at least 862 cases nationwide on Sunday, 50 times more than last year.
At least 49 deaths have also been recorded since the start of the year.
Among those suffering from the disease, medically called whooping cough, was Zion Torrepalma, just two and a half months old. His parents said he spent weeks in the hospital because of his incessant coughing.
“It wasn’t the usual coughing sound, it was kind of a wheezing cough,” Danny Torrepalma, the child’s father, told Al Jazeera.
The respiratory tract infection is more commonly known as whooping cough because of its distinctive sound.
“It’s a continuous cough, followed by a prolonged inspiratory effort,” explained John Kelvin Gabot, a specialist in pediatric infectious diseases.
Al Jazeera’s Barnaby Lo, in a report from Manila, quoted doctors as saying that while whooping cough can be fatal, it is treatable if caught early. “And more importantly, it can be prevented through vaccination,” he said.
UNICEF said the Philippines is among the countries with the highest number of unvaccinated children, which could be partly attributable to the outbreak. The UN agency estimates that 1 million Filipino children were not routinely vaccinated in 2021, when the COVID-19 pandemic was at its peak.
Due to the pandemic lockdown, many parents were unable to vaccinate their children. Additionally, vaccine hesitancy was high.
Health Ministry spokesperson Albert Domingo told Al Jazeera that during the pandemic, health workers had to focus on thousands of patients while requiring parents and their children to stay at home.
“And then you had hesitation issues,” he said.
As part of the government’s emergency response, health workers are vaccinating children in communities where whooping cough cases have been confirmed, with the aim of vaccinating an additional five million people by the end of the year.
With supplies low, many parents are hoping the vaccine will arrive before the outbreak worsens.
