2 months ago
42
Upgrade to High-Speed Internet for only ₱1499/month!
Enjoy up to 100 Mbps fiber broadband, perfect for browsing, streaming, and gaming.
Visit Suniway.ph to learn
Helen Flores - The Philippine Star
January 8, 2026 | 12:00am
“The warning I will give is for Filipinos that will travel to the temperate countries, that will go to North America, to the UK. If you’re going there, be knowledgeable that there is a spread of super flu in (those areas),” Health Secretary Ted Herbosa said at a Palace briefing.
STAR / Edd Gumban
MANILA, Philippines — The presence of a “super flu” variant in the country is “not alarming,” the Department of Health (DOH) said yesterday, but it advised Filipinos traveling to Northern America and United Kingdom to get the northern hemisphere vaccine amid reports of increasing cases in the US and Europe.
“The warning I will give is for Filipinos that will travel to the temperate countries, that will go to North America, to the UK. If you’re going there, be knowledgeable that there is a spread of super flu in (those areas),” Health Secretary Ted Herbosa said at a Palace briefing.
“Get the northern hemisphere vaccine, that’s my best advice for them. If you travel, or you plan to visit your relatives in cold, winter places, get the shot – the northern hemisphere shot, not the southern hemisphere shot,” the DOH chief said.
The super flu, officially termed subclade K, is a variant of influenza A (H3N2) virus and has been sweeping parts of the globe in recent months.
The DOH earlier said 41 cases of the super flu were recorded in the Philippines from Aug. 6 to Oct. 24 last year. The patients have already recovered.
Herbosa said the presence of the super flu variant in the country is not alarming but urged the public, especially those who have medical conditions, to get flu shots.
“As we very well know, flu is a self-limiting illness, unless you have a medical condition, you’re elderly, so we still recommend the use of the flu vaccine,” he said.
Herbosa advised the public to observe precautionary measures, including staying home when sick and wearing face masks to prevent the spread of infection.
Measles-rubella vaccination
Meanwhile, around 11 million children aged six months to 12 years are targeted to be given vaccines for measles and rubella in the government’s massive immunization program this month, the DOH announced.
The agency aims to vaccinate 5.6 million children in Luzon, 2.8 million others in Mindanao and 1.9 million more in Visayas, it said in an advisory on its Facebook page on Tuesday. – Ghio Ong
