Philippines targets 2 million students for HPV vaccination under school program

The Department of Health aims to deliver HPV vaccines to approximately 2.007 million Grade 4 and 5 students from both public and private schools, with an estimated nine percent being out-of-school youth, according to Alethea de Guzman, director of the DOH Epidemiology Bureau. This rollout is integrated into Bakuna Eskwela, the yearly school-based immunization program jointly run with the Department of Education, which also provides shots for measles, rubella, tetanus and diphtheria.

The push follows a national tally of 7,829 cervical-cancer cases in 2022, placing the disease among the top five cancers in the Philippines per WHO data. De Guzman called on parents and caregivers to be informed and grant consent for their children’s vaccination. Separately, Nelinda Catherine Pangilinan of Rizal Medical Center advocated for reproductive health education to be added to the basic curriculum, citing early-age cervical-cancer diagnoses in young Filipino patients.