Immunization 101 : Availing Free Vaccines at Your Local Health Center

Wednesday is considered as Immunization and Well-Baby Check-up Day at all health centers in the Philippines as mandated by our Department of Health (DOH). So last Wednesday along with other parents, J and I brought our little Queen B for her first dose of the measles vaccine. Her next visit will be a week after her ninth month birthday for the second dose and if available she would also be given the vaccine for mumps and rubella.

We are quite blessed that we (so far) did not need to return to a later date to avail the vaccine our baby is scheduled to have. It is always available at our day of visit so even though we had to wait for an hour or more it is worth it. I hope this good service will not only be experienced by us but other parents as well all over the Philippines.  

In availing the free vaccines at your local health center, one must first register their family as a resident of your baranggay. It is better to provide proof of address as this will expedite the process of registration. You will be then be given a family number that you should memorize. Tip: Write it down on your baby record book or save it on your phone’s memory. Ours is quite easy to remember because our family number, coincidentally, is my birth date minus the last two digit of my birth year. The family number will be your means of identification every time you visit your local health center.

Bring also a long brown envelope. This is where they will place their own copy of your baby’s vaccination records and other health related details. The health center personnel will write your family number at your envelope and it will be kept along with other family’s envelope at a file cabinet for safekeeping.

The table below, in the meanwhile, shows all vaccines recommended by the DOH:

BCG	OPV/IPV	Measles
HepB	Rotavirus	MMR
DTwP-Hib-HepB	PCV	Td
DTap	Hepatitis A	HPV
IPV	Varicella	Tdap
Influenza	MMRV

The highlighted vaccines are supposed to be available at our local health centers. As I have mentioned here, we are availing Georgina’s PCV from our pediatrician as it is not available at our local health center. This is because the PCV was just included in the Expanded Program of Immunization (EPI) last 2013 and its integration will be phased. The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and Caraga Region were the first two recipients of the said vaccine. Each year a new region will be part of the recipient list until all regions are included. Right now, Region IV-A, I believed, is still not included.

While the chart below shows the Childhood Immunization Schedule for this year. Health center all throughout the Philippines use this as their basis when administering vaccines. (Here is a larger copy of the schedule.)

A gentle reminder for parents, we should safe keep our baby’s record book. This would help us keep them updated with their vaccines.

Some parents opted to have their vaccinated at private clinics or hospitals for various reasons. Since Wednesday is a work day, working parents are probably not available to accompany their children. Also, the queue at health centers can be quite long. Last Wednesday, we are at number 82. This can be disheartening to other parents. Unlike in private clinics or hospitals, the waiting area is not air-conditioned and most probably there are not enough chairs to sit. Patience is really needed when availing government services.

Thankfully, J and I are quite used to availing government services. Both of us are actually scholars of our Department of Science and Technology for our undergraduate degree. Both of us also studied at state universities. I even taught at one for five years so lining up for hours is common for us. Of course, lining up for hours with a baby is a different thing so I hope our government will continue to improve their system of services.

On the next part of this blog post series, I’ll talk about what is immunization and how it works so stay tuned.

#xoxo