DOH Eastern Visayas monitoring Dengvaxia-immunized kids

TACLOBAN CITY, March 5  -- The Department of Health (DOH) is closely monitoring six children who got Dengvaxia shots and recently confined in hospitals here for suffering dengue fever.

All the six children, with four of them vaccinated outside Eastern Visayas, have been discharged from hospitals in the past two months, according to DOH.

The other two children got the vaccines from private health clinics in the region.



DOH Eastern Visayas Regional Director Minerva Molon on Monday said the regional office has already documented nine children with Dengvaxia shots.

Seven of them were immunized in the National Capital Region, Region 3, and Region 4-A. 



“These children and their family came to our region for unknown reasons. Some of them did not suffer dengue fever, but their parents came to our office to report that their children were vaccinated,” Molon said.



These children are in Catbalogan City in Samar; San Isidro in Northern Samar; Tacloban City, Julita, Tanauan, Dulag, and Ormoc City in Leyte.

“We endorsed them to rural health units for observation because we have to make sure that their environment is regularly monitored,” Molon added.



The DOH maintained that no one received the controversial vaccine in the region in school-based mass immunization since the Eastern Visayas was not considered a priority area.



The health department also reminded everyone that whether or not a person has been vaccinated by Dengvaxia, there is a high possibility of suffering severe dengue once bitten by a dengue virus-carrier mosquito.



Meanwhile, the health department has reiterated its call to support the government’s immunization program this year that will benefit 213,717 children in Eastern Visayas.



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.



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



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



Dengvaxia, developed by Sanofi Pasteur, is a live recombinant tetravalent dengue vaccine, based on the yellow fever 17D vaccine strain, given as a three-dose series with six months between each dose.



The vaccine has four components, encoding for antigens of the four dengue virus strains.

It is the first dengue vaccine to be licensed, according to the World Health Organization.



The vaccine became controversial after its manufacturer admitted that 10 percent of over 800,000 students who were immunized with Dengvaxia, but did not have a prior dengue infection, now face contracting a "severe dengue."



The issue forced the DOH to halt its nationwide dengue immunization program and it was followed with investigations by the House of Representatives. (SQM/PNA)