2019–2021 polio outbreak in the philippines 2019–2021 polio outbreak in the philippines the 2019–2021 polio outbreak in the philippines was an epidemic. for the previous 19 years, the philippines was free of any polio-related diseases. on september 14, 2019, the disease began to resurface through a positive test result done to a 3-year-old girl from mindanao. after the confirmation of a second case from tests done on a 5-year-old boy, the government of the philippines publicly declared a polio outbreak on september 19, 2019. on june 11, 2021, the who announced that the outbreak has ended. 2019–2021 polio outbreak in the philippinesmap of provinces (including metro manila) with confirmed cases diseasepoliovirus strain circulating vaccine–derived poliovirus type 1 (cvdpv1) circulating vaccine–derived poliovirus type 2 (cvdpv2) locationphilippinesindex casemarogong, lanao del surdateseptember 19, 2019 – june 11, 2021confirmed cases17deaths0vaccinations4,750,000+(2019 – august 2020) according to the world health organization (who), the philippines eradicated polio in 2000. epidemiology on september 19, 2019, a polio outbreak was reported in the philippines. after two polio cases were reported, the authorities inspected several places including metro manila and davao city. samples taken from several places across manila were confirmed to contain "vaccine-derived polio virus" type 2 (vdpv2), similar to the pathogen found on the first two confirmed cases. the government decided to vaccinate all the children regardless of whether they have been affected by polio or not. the global polio eradication initiative (gpei) have worked with the government of the philippines in a massive polio vaccination campaign; other ngos like the red cross are also collaborating in the campaign as well. four cases have been confirmed as of november 5, 2019: the first was a three-year-old girl in lanao del sur with the other cases reported in laguna, maguindanao, and sultan kudarat. it is believed that the public's distrust in the country's poor healthcare system is a cause of the polio outbreak. this is not the first disease outbreak in the philippines in 2019. in february 2019, a measles outbreak occurred as a result of public distrust in the philippines' poor healthcare system. as of january 2019, the philippines has been combating a dengue outbreak, the worst dengue outbreak that the philippines has experienced since 2012. like the measles outbreak, the dengue outbreak was also caused by public distrust of the dengue vaccination campaign in 2012. the world health organization and unicef philippines, declared the official end of the polio outbreak on june 11, 2021, after the virus has not been detected in the past 16 months. summary of polio cases caseno. date age gender notes ref. 1 september 19 3 female index case involving a girl from marogong, lanao del sur 2 september 20 5 male from laguna; immunocompromised 3 october 28 4 female from datu piang, maguindanao 4 november 5 ? ? from an unspecified location in mindanao 5 november 20 2 female from maguindanao 6 november 20 1 male from cotabato city 7 november 20 4 female from cotabato 8 november 25 9 female from basilan 9–12 no data 13 january 16, 2020 2 male from maguindanao 14 january 16, 2020 3 male from maguindanao 15 january 16, 2020 2 male from sultan kudarat 16 january 16, 2020 3 male from quezon city 17 february 15, 2020 1 male from cabanatuan, nueva ecija response domestic during this epidemic, who, unicef and other private medical communities are working hand in hand to help the philippines department of health in conducting enormous vaccination runs throughout metro manila, davao city, marawi, and other major cities in the country. the campaign sought to end the rise of the deadly virus. according to the philippine red cross, the duration of the mass vaccination run happened between october 14 and 27, 2019; the number of children they aimed to have vaccinated is 65,000 children. as of october 2, 2019, the international federation of red cross and red crescent societies (ifrc) has pledged us$336,700 from it relief funds in efforts to eradicate polio from the philippines. international not only is the outbreak proving a risk to citizens of the philippines, but other neighboring countries are keeping watch on the spread of the disease as well. an advisory was released by the embassy of the republic of indonesia to the philippines, in aiming to prevent the spread of polio.