DOH-8 exec allays public fear on vaccination amid Dengvaxia mess

PALO, Leyte, Feb. 15 -- The Department of Health (DOH) has reiterated its call to support the government’s immunization program this year that will benefit 213,717 children in Eastern Visayas amid dengue vaccine scare.

DOH Regional Director Minerva Molon made the call to the public after some parents resisted the administration of deworming pills to their children last month due to the dengue vaccination fiasco.

“We have to explain to school officials and local government officials to help us inform parents the benefits of deworming and the activity is not related to Dengvaxia,” Molon told Philippine News Agency (PNA) on Thursday.

In the next months, the health department will conduct its regular mass vaccination to combat polio, measles, tetanus, meningitis, diphtheria, and tuberculosis.

The immunization program will cover 129,370 children 0 to 12 years old and 84,347 Grades 1 to 7 school children in the region.

“We need to strongly support and continue our routine immunization to children to protect them from acquiring vaccine-preventable diseases,” Molon said.

The DOH official is worried that Dengvaxia issue will further drag down the 75 percent immunization coverage in the region last year, lower than the 95 percent target.

“Our vaccines in the regular immunization program have been proven effective and this should not be affected with this Dengvaxia issue. Imagine what would happen to our children three to five years from now if they’re not immunized,” Molon said.

Vaccination, according to Molon, should push through noting that in the past two years, there are still confirmed cases of fatal diseases preventable by vaccines.

Between 2016 to 2017, the region recorded five deaths from tetanus and three deaths from pertussis. At least 56 children contacted polio, and 157 others suffered measles.

The official clarified that the region is not covered in the mass dengue vaccination conducted in Regions 3, 4-A, National Capital Region, and Central Visayas.

In Region 8 (Eastern Visayas), four children who were given Dengvaxia in other regions were admitted in hospitals in Leyte and Samar from December 2017 to early February 2018.

All of them suffered dengue and have been discharged from hospital.

The government’s immunization program was established in 1976 to ensure that infants, children, and mothers have access to routinely recommended childhood vaccines.

Six vaccine-preventable diseases were initially included in the program: tuberculosis, poliomyelitis, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis and measles.

The World Health Organization estimated that in 2002, about 1.4 million of deaths among children under five years due to diseases that could have been prevented by routine vaccination. (SQM/PNA)