Philippines vaccine drive hit by viral anti-vax posts

Viral anti-vaccine posts spread fear during a Philippine child vaccination campaign in 2026, as health officials tried to rebuild trust after years of falling childhood immunisation rates.

More than seven million Filipinos were inoculated during the campaign, while about 230,000 declined the jab. The Department of Health said concerns about side effects accounted for 66 percent of refusals and called misinformation spread by social media influencers a major driver of vaccine fear.

One case involved the photograph of Jenette Torres Odena's three-year-old son, who fell ill days after receiving a measles-rubella vaccine. Doctors found no link between the vaccine and the boy's condition, and he recovered, but his image was used in anti-vaccine videos viewed hundreds of thousands of times.

Facebook later removed a page run by content creator Maharani Sona Shiloh, whose videos used the child's image and made claims about vaccine dangers. Shiloh rejected suggestions that she was spreading harmful misinformation and described herself as a human rights advocate.

Health workers said the videos made conversations with parents more difficult. Wenna Mae Belen, a rural health worker in Sorsogon province, said some parents had become afraid because online videos claimed vaccines were fatal.

The Philippines has struggled to restore routine childhood immunisation coverage after declines that contributed to a polio resurgence in 2019 and recurring measles outbreaks.