Measles outbreak in the Philippines has a big impact on tourism

Are you planning to travel right now? If so, there is one place you must not go, and that is the Philippines, because a measles outbreak is currently raging there and the situation is extremely serious. More than 100 people have already died, and more than 8,000 have been infected. So friends who are planning to travel should take note: do not go to the Philippines.

Over the past month or so, a measles outbreak has erupted in the Philippines, with more than 4,300 people infected and 70 confirmed deaths, 18 of them residents of Metro Manila. That was back in January, and now it is even more serious; reports say more than 100 people have died and more than 8,000 have been infected, which is extremely severe.

Philippine Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said at a press conference today that from January 1 to February 9 this year, the Department of Health's Epidemiology Bureau received reports of 4,302 measles cases, an increase of 122% over the 1,935 cases in the same period last year.

Duque said that during this period 70 patients died, far higher than the 18 in the same period of 2018, with ages ranging from 1 month to 31 years old, and 79% of them had never received the measles vaccine.

Data show that Metro Manila had the most measles cases, reaching 1,296, with 18 deaths; next were 5 provinces in central and southern Luzon, with 1,086 people infected and 25 deaths.

Health officials speculated that the main reason for the measles outbreak was that people, under the shadow of fear over the dengue vaccine Dengvaxia, did not dare to get vaccinated.

Dengvaxia was introduced in 2015 and was billed as the world's first dengue vaccine. In December of the same year, the Philippines became the first country in Asia to approve its use, but in 2017 it was revealed that more than 100 Filipino children had died suspectedly because of Dengvaxia vaccination, and many parents lost confidence in other vaccines as well, refusing to let their children be vaccinated.

To dispel fear of vaccines, Malacanang Palace announced that President Rodrigo Duterte would personally take the lead in promoting the safety and importance of vaccines.