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Program On Immunization (EPI) Was Introduce in The Philippines, The Standard Routine Immunization

This document discusses the issue of mandatory vaccination in the Philippines. It notes that while vaccines are available for free through the government, outbreaks of diseases like measles and polio have still occurred due to some parents refusing to vaccinate their children. The current law on mandatory vaccination (RA 10152) does not include penalties for parents who do not vaccinate. The author proposes amending the law to include penalties in order to protect children's health and welfare. The doctrines of parens patriae and salus populi est suprema lex support giving the state power to intervene on children's behalf and consider their general welfare when parents neglect their health needs.

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Nicole
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58 views2 pages

Program On Immunization (EPI) Was Introduce in The Philippines, The Standard Routine Immunization

This document discusses the issue of mandatory vaccination in the Philippines. It notes that while vaccines are available for free through the government, outbreaks of diseases like measles and polio have still occurred due to some parents refusing to vaccinate their children. The current law on mandatory vaccination (RA 10152) does not include penalties for parents who do not vaccinate. The author proposes amending the law to include penalties in order to protect children's health and welfare. The doctrines of parens patriae and salus populi est suprema lex support giving the state power to intervene on children's behalf and consider their general welfare when parents neglect their health needs.

Uploaded by

Nicole
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Ibay, Nicole Dominique N.

November 4, 2019
Constitutional law I Assignment no. 2
Atty. Ayson

Mandatory Vaccine Law

In the Philippines child vaccination is now considered as a choice of the parents while their children
are unaware of the consequences of being vaccinated vs being unvaccinated. In 1979 the Expanded
Program on Immunization (EPI) was introduce in the Philippines, The standard routine immunization
schedule for infants in the Philippines is adopted to provide maximum immunity against the seven vaccine
preventable diseases in the country for free for children up to 5 years of age . In recent events, wide spread
out breaks of measles and polio was recorded in the Philippines by the department of health specifically
children who are 10 years of age and below. According to the Department of Health (DOH) for 19 years
Philippines have been declared to be Polio free, in September of 2019 cases have been filed that there are
children who have polio. If theses deceases are not prevented at an early age of an infant there could be
serious consequences for their health or worst they could even die from such deceased. The question now
is; why is there such an outbreak in the Philippines considering vaccines for such diseases are available in
both public and private hospitals and are there any solutions given by the government to prevent such
deceases to happen?

To answer the first question, the parents who refuses to vaccinate their own children, it states that
most of them are afraid of the side effects that vaccines, but there are little to know of any side effects have
been recorded by the World Health Organization. RA 10152 or the mandatory immunization the Mandatory
Infants and Children Health Immunization Act of 2011 is properly implemented, The Duterte
administration recognizes that this is a public health issue that needs to be urgently addressed, which is why
the government are focused on ensuring that the provisions of RA 10152 are properly implemented, section
3 of the law, mandates the government to provide immunization for free at any government hospital or
health center to infants and children up to five years old.

There is however there is a flaw in this law is that RA 10152 does not have any penal provisions
and does not punish parents who do not have their children vaccinated, unlike the PD (presidential decree)
it replaced. Under PD 996, it was the duty of parents or those having custody of the child to see to it that
the child is immunized. Those who did not could be punished with a P200 fine or one month imprisonment.
Infants whose age in 5 years old and below cannot decide for themselves which results for their parents to
decide for them. Infants cannot protect themselves from these deadly deceases because at a young age their
capacities are limited. Since this is an alarming issue that needs to be address I have proposed an amendment
of R.A. 10152 or the mandatory immunization the Mandatory Infants and Children Health Immunization
Act of 2011 which should have penalties for the parents of the children who are unvaccinated because their
parents neglects to give them the health benefits they deserve.

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I have narrow down to doctrine to support the amendment of the law, and those are; Parens Patriae and
Salus Populi Est Suprema Lex.

Parens patrie

The doctrine of Parens Patrie is Latin for “father of his country.” It is simply understood as the
“State as the guardian of the people.” As what was enunciated by the Supreme Court in the landmark case
of Government of the Philippine Islands vs. El Monte de Piedad Y Caja De Ahorras De Manila (G.R. No.
L-9959, Dec. 13, 1916), “the government being the protector of the rights of the people has the inherent
supreme power to enforce such laws that will promote the public interest.”

In law, parens patriae refers to the public policy power of the State to intervene against an abusive
or negligent parent, legal guardian, or informal custodian, and to act as the parent of any child or individual
who is in need of protection. The government should act as the protectors of those children who cannot
decide for their own health care and punish those parents who neglects their role to protect and give their
children the health benefits that they need, there should be an amendment to this law that penalizes such
acts because the future of the children are at risk.

Salus Populi Est Suprema Lex

“The welfare of the people is the highest law" (salus populi suprema est lex) this should also be
taken into consideration because the government should consider the general welfare of the children who
are not yet able to decide and protect their own from the unfortunate decisions that their parents make. The
children are at risk of having permanent damage or worst, they could die if they don’t get the proper health
care that they need in this case, vaccines. Since the government made it free for the children to have
vaccinated the parents should be responsible enough to have their children vaccinated. Those children who
are not given such health care are being deprive of their constitutional right as well, right to life.

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