TACLOBAN CITY - The Department of Health (DOH) targets to administer vaccines to at least 239,190 learners in Eastern Visayas as part of its school-based immunization program. By November, the target of the DOH regional office here is to vaccinate some 86,852 Grade 1 students, 49,546 Grade 4 female students, and 102,792 Grade 7 students in the region's six provinces, in coordination with the Department of Education. DOH regional information officer Jelyn Lopez-Malibago said in a phone interview Wednesday that the 'Bakuna Eskwela' program offers free vaccines to public school students. 'In Eastern Visayas, the DOH is targeting to vaccinate 95 percent of eligible children in Grades 1 and 7 with the measles-rubella and tetanus-diphtheria vaccines, as well as 90 percent of Grade 4 female students with the human papillomavirus vaccine to prevent cervical cancer,' Malibago added. The program is a national campaign of DOH and DepEd to protect students from vaccine-preventable diseases such as tetanus, diphtheri a, measles, rubella, and cervical cancer. In Eastern Visayas, the health department launched the program on Oct. 7 at San Fernando Central School in this city. The DOH urged parents and guardians to get their eligible children vaccinated through the school-based immunization program. Source: Philippines News Agency