The Department of Health (DoH) has created a task force to monitor children inoculated with Dengvaxia and to review the government’s dengue vaccination program.

The task force will be composed of top management officials from the DoH central office, regional offices of affected areas, attached agencies such as Food and Drug Administration and PhilHealth, and the National Children’s Hospital.

seeinG red Health workers gather in front of the Department of Health building in Manila to call for a thorough investigation of the controversy involving the inoculation of schoolchildren with Dengvaxia. photo By Russell Palma

Health Secretary Francisco Duque said the panel will also review the evidence on safety provided by Sanofi.

“This shall guide the Department of Health in responding to the safety concerns relevant to the use of this vaccine and how to proceed with the dengue program to ensure safeguards and prevent similar incidents in the future,” he added.

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The health department is set to heighten surveillance and monitoring activities on about 830,000 students inoculated by the dengue vaccine by hiring and deploying 30 additional surveillance officers to hospitals in regions where the dengue immunization was conducted.

“We will be deploying them immediately for active surveillance and data collection in these hospitals. Surveillance will be done for five years,” Duque said.

The DoH is coordinating with the Department of Education in compiling the names of children who were given the anti-dengue vaccine.

A legal team will also look into the accountability of pharmaceutical giant Sanofi Pasteur. Duque earlier said the government will sue the company and will ask for an indemnity fund in case there will be cases of children contracting severe dengue.

“We will demand the refund of the P3.5 billion paid for the Dengvaxia, and that Sanofi set up an indemnification fund to cover the hospitalization and medical treatment for all children who might have severe dengue,” Duque said.

He said PhilHealth will cover the medical expenses of any child who will be hospitalized for severe dengue.

“We will continue to be vigilant in monitoring our children for any adverse event following immunization, and will strengthen the readiness of our public hospitals in attending to any severe dengue cases that may occur,” the Health chief said.

Duque also urged former president Benigno Aquino 3rd and former Health secretary Janet Garin to clear the speculations against them over the dengue vaccine controversy.

“It’s hard to second-guess the former Secretary of Health and also the former President. But it’s really up to them if they would like to clarify several issues on the matter because they were the ones who made the very vital decision to procure the vaccines. And the circumstances around which that decision was made, is something that I’m not privy to,” Duque told reporters in a news briefing in Malacañang.

“So we will just have to await what their testimonies will be. I believe very strongly it is going to be good for everyone to come forward and to say his or her piece and to explain,” he added.

Last week, French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi Pasteur disclosed that its Dengvaxia vaccine could lead to “more severe” cases of dengue when administered on a person who had not been infected by the virus.

The dengue immunization program for Grade 4 students in Metro Manila, Central Luzon, and Calabarzon was launched on April 4, 2016. The target was to vaccinate around one million children.

At least 15,000 policemen were also given the vaccine.|

The Philippines was the first Asian country to approve the commercial sale of the world’s first dengue vaccine.

Duque said he believed that Aquino and Garin both “meant well” when they implemented the vaccination program.

“I have no doubt that they did mean well. The (former) president and the (former Health) department head were guided based on the feedback and from the documentary evidence. (Also), the WHO (World Health Organization) guidelines were in fact followed,” he added.