Philippines National Immunization Program

The Philippines' national childhood vaccination program, launched on July 12, 1976 as the Expanded Program for Immunization with support from the World Health Organization and UNICEF, and established in law by Presidential Decree No. 996. The program initially made basic immunization compulsory for children under age eight and covered six vaccine-preventable diseases, tuberculosis, poliomyelitis, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis and measles, with the explicit goal of reducing child mortality by increasing access to preventive vaccination; it has since grown into the country's National Immunization Program, aimed at ensuring that infants, children and mothers have routine access to the vaccines recommended for them.