Old beliefs hinder vaccination in Basilan
Traditional beliefs causing resistance against vaccines
Basilan, 05 April 2024 – As a barangay health worker, Jesel Idris sometimes goes around the village to convince mothers to have their children vaccinated. Whenever she encounters resistance, she’s not surprised, for she herself has not been able to have her children fully immunized.
“My mother-in-law forbids me from having my children vaccinated,” says Idris, 36, mother of four children aged 10 to 18 and guardian to her 3-year-old niece-in-law Isning Awat. “Sometimes I defy my mother-in-law, but whenever she finds out, she gets mad at me. To avoid conflict, I just follow her most of the time.”
Under the government’s routine immunization program, an infant should receive fifteen doses of seven types of vaccines within first year of life. When Isning was born in the hospital, she received a dose of the vaccine against tuberculosis, and a few months ago, she received a dose of the vaccine against measles. She remains vulnerable to other serious diseases, such as polio and hepatitis B.
“My mother-in-law and some other people in our barangay believe that vaccines are harmful instead of helpful,” says Idris. “They claim that the older generation were healthy even if they were not immunized. They don’t see the point of immunizing children now.”
A common problem
The resistance against vaccination is not confined to Barangay Matibay, where Idris resides. It’s a problem as well at other barangays in Lamitan City, Basilan, around 1,400 kilometers south of the capital, Manila. “Sometimes, the mother wants the child to be vaccinated, but the father is against it due to traditional beliefs, so the mother relents,” says Kriszel Anne Lubaton, a health worker of Barangay Malinis.
Some parents do not understand that the purpose of vaccination is prevention and protection. “They say that their children look healthy and there’s nothing more that needs to be done,” adds Lubaton.
“Some residents here do not consult the experts,” says Fatima Zuhra Jamiri, a nurse assigned at Barangay Bato. “They ask their neighbors instead, and when they hear that someone’s child had a fever after vaccination, they become afraid to have their own children vaccinated. They would not believe that fever is a normal side effect of a vaccine, especially if it’s a five-in-one vaccine.”
Jamiri also shares that the covid-19 pandemic affected the implementation of routine immunization at the barangay. “We were doing well, but when the pandemic came, the rate of participation plunged. Many parents became afraid that their children would be given COVID vaccines instead of the usual vaccines.”
The trend has been the same for the whole city. Afreen Amerin, health officer of Lamitan, explains, “Before the pandemic, 80 to 90 percent of our children received the recommended vaccines, and we were aiming to reach the ideal coverage of 95 percent. When the pandemic happened, we had to prioritize COVID immunization. Also, there was a shortage of vaccines for routine immunization. So now our coverage for routine immunization is just about 30 percent.”
Moving forward
Oyunsaikhan Dendevnorov, UNICEF Representative to the Philippines, says that the country is among the five countries in Southeast Asia with the highest proportion of unvaccinated children, and majority of them are in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, which includes Lamitan.
“Being vaccinated is every child’s right,” adds Dendevnorov. “Any reason why a child cannot access this life-saving intervention should be addressed. The child’s best interest should be protected at all cost.”
Health workers in Lamitan employ various means to educate the people in their communities. “My fellow health workers and I identify the parents who don’t bring their children to the health station, and then we go house-to-house to explain the importance of vaccination,” says Lubaton. “We tell the parents to think of their children’s welfare in the future.”
“As the nurse of the barangay, sometimes I give lectures in gatherings,” says Jamiri. “To avoid expenses and to ensure that there are many attendees, I do it during meetings of organizations.”
Amerin says that having more funds would boost the capacity of the city health office. “We need to hire more personnel. The government has many health programs, so sometimes one employee has to take charge of four or five programs. We have two employees assigned to the National Immunization Program, but the workload is still too much for them. Also, barangay health workers deserve bigger honoraria and more benefits.”
While Idris is still struggling against traditional beliefs, she takes extra measures to protect her ward. “I know that Isning is more vulnerable to diseases compared with immunized kids, so I give her vitamins, and I bring her to the health station for checkups and for treatments that do not require injections.”
The barangay health worker remains aware, however, that nothing can replace immunization. “I tell other mothers that it’s really better if children are vaccinated because if they are infected with a disease, their body can fight it and they suffer less.”
