DUE to an acute shortage of vaccine supply from the U.S., the CNMI’s immunization rate among children less than three years of age has dropped by over 30 percent.
The Department of Public Health and the private clinics do not have enough supply of the DPT vaccine, which is used to prevent diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis.
Dr. Richard Brostrom, medical director for public health, yesterday said the limited supply made the department more careful in prioritizing the provision of vaccine shots. Those who are rushed in to the emergency room with cuts and scrapes remain the top priority, while those coming in to get the annual shots and are unable to get vaccinated are advised to return when the supply has been replenished.
“Many of our children did not receive the required number of shots, in particular, the DPT shots. The immunization rates themselves have gone down because of this, and we did not reach our target immunization rate,” said Brostrom.
Acting Health Secretary James U. Hofschneider, however, said the CNMI “is fortunate that it has not seen cases of preventable diseases like diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis or whooping cough as a result of the limited vaccine supply.”
Health officials asked the public to be patient.
Public Health at the same time acknowledged that it failed to reach its 2001 immunization target rate of at least 90 percent for children below 36 months.
Brostrom said the immunization rate for 2001 stood at only 58 percent—a significant drop from the previous years’ levels of between upper 80 percent to close to 100 percent.
“Our target immunization rate (annually) is 90 percent, which is very aggressive. The average in the Unites States is between 70 and 80 percent for immunization rate, and we consistently are in the high 80s to upper 90s,” said Brostrom.
Health officials said the shortage of vaccine supply is also experienced in the U.S.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control, according to Brostrom, was unable to send out these vaccines to the CNMI this year as a result of the supply problem.
But the federal government has assured the CNMI that the next shipment will arrive in the next few months, Brostrom said.
Pete Untalan, special assistant to the health secretary, said Public Health was able to secure some 2,000 dosage of DPT vaccine from New Zealand, through the help of the World Health Organization and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community.
