MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) yesterday stressed the need for children to have complete anti-measles vaccination amid the threat of developing “immune amnesia” or the measles-induced wipeout of the immune system’s memory. In an interview, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said they are looking into an international study that showed having measles infection reduces a person’s protection against other diseases. It takes two years for the protective antibodies against other bacteria and viruses to come back,” he added. According to Duque, the study revealed that measles can “influence the reduction of the antibodies to other infection like polio, diphtheria, pertussis.”“It makes sense to really have your children vaccinated against measles because of this,” he said. Duque added DOH will be discussing the possibility of providing booster shots to eligible children but only after all target children have been vaccinated against the disease.

Source: Philippine Star November 11, 2019 23:07 UTC