Manila, Jan. 24 -- Health personnel in Region 12 (Soccksargen) are optimistic of meeting the target 95 percent coverage in the ongoing second round of the mass immunization campaign against polio.

Dr. Aristides Tan, Department of Health (DOH)-12 director, said Thursday their immunization teams covered nearly 60 percent of the over 575,000 targeted eligible children in the first three days of the "Sabayang Patak Kontra Polio," which started last Monday.

The second round of the immunization drive will end on February 2.

He said Sultan Kudarat province posted the highest immunization coverage so far is at 62.37 percent, followed by North Cotabato at 61.85 percent, General Santos at 58.76 percent, Cotabato City at 55.03 percent, Sarangani at 51.57 percent, and South Cotabato at 51.47 percent.

Tan said the teams are working double time to ensure that all children aged five years old and below will be immunized against polio.

He said they have established fixed immunization sites in strategic public areas like checkpoints, churches and shopping malls to complement the house-to-house visits of the mobile teams.

"An immunization coverage of 95 percent and above means that children in our communities will have lesser risks of contracting the disease," he told reporters.

Tan acknowledged that the region is among the areas being closely monitored by the DOH central office and the World Health Organization due to the five confirmed cases of polio.

He said the reported cases were from Columbio and Lambayong towns in Sultan Kudarat, Cotabato City and Midsayap in North Cotabato.

The latest case, which involves a seven-year-old child, was from a village in Columbio town, he said.

Samples taken from the child turned out positive based on confirmatory tests by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine.

Tab said health surveillance and sanitation teams are determining how the child was infected.

"They are checking whether it was caused by contaminated water supplies and other possible factors," he added.