Prince Charles secures 5M vaccines for PH typhoon victims

[Terpe]

Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, has set up for the delivery of 5 million doses of measles and rubella vaccine to victims of Super Typhoon Yolanda (international name: Haiyan).


Source:-
http://www.rappler.com/move-ph/issues/disasters/typhoon-yolanda/53937-prince-charles-serum-institute-vaccines-philippines

[raynaputi]

:xxgrinning--00xx3::xxgrinning--00xx3:

[les_taxi]

Well done Charles :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[stevewool]

such a nice bloke, hes done wonders for himself and his boys and now it seems the world too, keep it up

[Arthur Little]

What a truly noble gesture ... well done, your Royal Highness! :appl:

[fred]

Yes nice gesture..

I`m a little surprised it was required though as all the babies in our province get all the required vaccines free by the local barangay nurse.. I'm pretty sure that goes for the whole R.P.

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/342274/news/nation/doh-tells-parents-bring-children-to-health-centers-for-measles-vaccination

It may be that the vaccines in Leyte were destroyed and not yet replaced?

Anyway..Well done Charlie boy!!

[Doc Alan]

It was a nice gesture by Prince Charles :smile:.


The charity he patronises ( International Health Partners ) claims “ 2,956 confirmed cases in the whole of 2013 “ and “ the first six weeks of 2014 saw over 3,691 “ measles cases. This compares to CNN’s claim of “ 5,863 cases “ in 2013, and “ 15,600 cases “ in the first 10 weeks of 2014. The reality is that the true number of measles cases in the Philippines is not accurately known :NoNo:.



The donated 5 million vaccines are for measles and rubella ( “ German measles “ ) combined, NOT scheduled until September this year; following which the Serum Institute of India “ will also make available a further 6 million doses, at cost “. India has in fact put a lot of effort into strengthening its own routine immunisation system in recent years - they hope to eliminate measles there by 2020.



Single vaccines are not available on the UK NHS. A combined vaccine is safer, and more effective, with fewer total numbers of injections - therefore better compliance - needed for immunity. The combined MMR vaccine ( Measles, Mumps, and Rubella ) is recommended in the UK.



MMR is also the vaccine recommended until now in the Philippines. It is indeed claimed to be available for free in city health centres and rural health clinics across the country. The Philippines HAD hoped to eliminate measles by 2012. Their target of 95% ( + ) coverage – accepted as the ideal for ANY country to eliminate measles – was never reached.



Predictably, measles never went away :NoNo:. This was disappointing - it had been hoped the Western Pacific Region would join the Americas in eliminating the disease. A vast immunisation campaign in China, for example, caused numbers of cases to fall dramatically.



The vaccination campaign ( “ Ligtas Tigdas “ ) was unsuccessful, because those most at risk – children under 2 – have missed their vaccines through moving ( from Manila to other cities / transferring residences ),and for other reasons ( such as parents not knowing about / mistrusting vaccination ).


Typhoon Haiyan made the situation worse by displacement of so many of the population ; destruction of clinics ; shortage of medicines and vaccines ; and difficult “ cold chain management “ ( reaching those who need vaccines, while making sure the vaccines are preserved at the correct temperature until they can be given ). There is already a programme of immunisation with “ monovalent “ measles vaccine ( on its own ) in the areas affected by the typhoon.



I updated my thread on measles in January of this year ( #20, http://filipinaroses.com/showthread.php/45820-Measles-another-illness-which-should-have-vanished
).