The Department of Health has noticed a huge decline in the number of children being immunized in Central Luzon and Davao City because of the Dengvaxia controversy.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque 3rd said the drop in vaccine coverage has caused concern at the department.
He cited the situation in Central Luzon where immunization coverage in 2017 was about 87 percent. This went down to 57 percent in January, a decline of 30 percent.
“It is a substantial reduction, that is really a cause for concern,” Duque said at the resumption of the Senate blue ribbon committee hearing on the P3.5 billion Dengvaxia controversy.
The health secretary said a growing number of parents in Davao City has refused to have their children inoculated against the measles because of the fear triggered by Dengvaxia.
Duque admitted that Dengvaxia has tainted the other vaccines being given by the government. Parents now even reject the deworming sessions.
“So we see now a very serious implication of this (Dengvaxia) and I think this is fanned unnecessarily by the hysterics that seem to have come from certain quarters and this is not fair,” Duque said.
The health secretary appealed to the public to work together and to rely on information based on scientific
evidence.
“This is very important and we appeal to everyone, especially those whom we occasionally see on television.
Certainly, there is an effort to create this hysteria or this fear, if not panic among parents of children,” he added.
On Monday at the House of Representatives, Duque admitted that parents are no longer willing to subject their children to any vaccination administered by the DoH, which include immunization against measles and influenza.
“But we are not giving up. We are looking for ways to convince the families and the parents to have their children vaccinated because these [non-dengue related] immunization are extremely crucial and will prevent possible fatal illness in the near and far future,” he added.
The Department of Health suspended the Dengvaxia immunization drive in December 2017 after Sanofi Pasteur admitted that Dengvaxia could worsen symptoms for vaccinated children who contracted the disease for the first time.
No cause for panic
Medical experts who attended the Senate hearing said there is no basis for parents to panic.
Dengue Specialist Mary Ann Lansang said there are no findings yet to confirm that the recent reported deaths were caused by Dengvaxia.
Based on their calculations on the results of clinical trials, Lansang said the vaccine is generally safe.
Lansang said they have yet to receive the final report of the Dengue Investigative Task Force that investigated the deaths of children inoculated with Dengvaxia.
Juliet Aguilar, head of the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH) expert panel, reminded the public that an individual could only be infected by dengue if bitten by a mosquito carrying the disease and not the vaccine.
Aguilar said the government has put in place a system that would separate dengue patients who have been inoculated with Dengvaxia from those who have not received the vaccine.