GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / 24 January) – Muftis or Islamic legal scholars in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) have called on parents to have their children injected with the measles-rubella vaccine, stressing that the booster is not haram (forbidden) but halal (permissible).
Grand Mufti Sheik Abdulrauf Guialani, executive director of Bangsamoro Darul-Ifta’, assured the parents and the children in the region that the vaccine is safe and effective to combat the measles and rubella diseases.
“With the help of vaccination, the spread of these diseases can be prevented. The vaccine distributed by our health workers is safe and effective,” he said in Filipino.
Guialani made the appeal in a video message posted at the Facebook page of the Ministry of Health amid the ongoing Measles-Rubella Vaccine Supplemental Immunization Activity (MR-SIA) spearheaded by the Department of Health (DOH).
With the help of Allah, this vaccination drive is a protection that can prevent the spread of measles and rubella in the Bangsamoro region, he said.
For Mindanao, MR-SIA was rolled out in General Santos City last Monday, January 19, by Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa, with simultaneous activities in the BARMM and other parts of the region.
The DOH is targeting to immunize against measles-rubella at least 2.8 million children aged six to 59 months old all over the island for “herd immunity.
In the BARMM, the MOH aims to vaccinate 500,000 children against measles all throughout the region.
The Bangsamoro region comprises the provinces of Maguindanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi, and the cities of Marawi, Lamitan and Cotabato.
Sheik Mohammad Pangca, another member of the Bangsamoro Darul-Ifta’ or the region’s Islamic advisory council, said the group fully supports the ongoing measles-rubella vaccination, noting it is a public health initiative that protects life and promotes the common good.
Bangsamoro interim Chief Minister Abdulraof Macacua also called on parents to support the measles-rubella vaccination drive in the region.
“This campaign has my full support because protecting a child’s health is their first line of defense for the future and safeguard their ability to learn, to grow, and eventually to lead,” he said during the vaccination campaign’s launch in Cotabato City also last Monday.
Measles is the world’s most contagious disease, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Measles infects the respiratory tract and then spreads throughout the body, and can be deadly. Symptoms include a high fever, cough, runny nose and a rash all over the body.
On the other hand, rubella, which is milder than the regular measles and called the “three-day measles,” is also a highly contagious viral disease. It spreads easily when an infected person coughs or sneezes. Most children and adults who get rubella have a mild fever and rash, a WHO briefer stated.
Herbosa said the massive vaccination campaign in Mindanao will last until February 15. (Bong S. Sarmiento / MindaNews)
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