MANILA – Malacañang assured the public that there will be no repeat of past mistakes on the controversial dengue vaccine “Dengvaxia” with its return being considered due to the rising dengue cases.
Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said the government is reviewing the possible return of dengue vaccine, expressing “openness” in making Dengvaxia available again in the market.
“Nothing is final yet but we vow that we will not repeat the mistakes of the past, where Dengvaxia was allegedly misused and mishandled in aid of political election with haste,” Panelo said.
“Politics must be set aside when the health of the citizenry is in peril. This Administration will not sit idly and expect that a health concern will be resolved without any action on its part,” he added.
Panelo said the government will act with “utmost caution” and will consider the opinion of the World Health Organization and medical experts.
“If Dengvaxia is proven effective to those who already had dengue in the past, then its application to these individuals will surely cause the decline of the overall number of cases of dengue which plague the residents of this country,” he added.
Iloilo representative Janette Garin, former Department of Health (DOH) secretary, suggested making the vaccine available again to the public due to the rising number of dengue victims in Western Visayas.
The administration of former president Benigno Aquino III initiated the nationwide immunization program in the summer of 2016, purchasing around P3.5-billion of Dengvaxia shots for 1-million public school children in regions reported to have the highest incidence of dengue.
The DOH stopped the program in Dec. 2017 after Sanofi Pasteur said it might increase the risk of severe dengue in recipients who had not contacted the mosquito-borne disease. At the time, over 800,000 school children were given the shots.
The Food and Drug Administration permanently revoked the certificate of product registration of Dengvaxia in February, about a year after Sanofi admitted that the drug can cause more severe symptoms among those who never had dengue before./PN
