Dengvaxia scandal: A clear case of government apathy
WHILE other countries around the world restricted or regulated the use of Dengvaxia, the defective dengue vaccine from Sanofi Pasteur, the Philippines was the only one which rolled out a national immunization program starting April, 2016.
This speaks volumes about the indifference of the previous administration towards the public health and safety of its citizens, especially the thousands of public school children who were inoculated with the Dengvaxia vaccine last year. Sanofi, which had earlier aggressively pushed Dengvaxia, is now saying that its vaccine should only be used by those who had previously been infected with dengue.
With the haste in which the Aquino administration implemented its widescale dengue vaccination program – ignoring warnings from medical experts, and without a recommendation from the World Health Organization – otherwise healthy children who received Dengvaxia now carry the burden of a possible “severe case” of dengue if they contract the disease.
Contrary to what presidential spokesman Harry Roque has been saying, a severe case of dengue is potentially life-threatening. This is a more acute version of the simple dengue fever. A severe dengue means having haemorrhagic fever, characterized by abdominal pain and bleeding, plasma leakage, and eventual organ failure.
The Duterte government has already suspended the sale, distribution, and marketing of Dengvaxia, manufactured by the French pharmaceutical firm Sanofi Pasteur. Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III said the government also plans to ask Sanofi Pasteur to refund the government of some 11.4 billion worth of unused Dengvaxia.
The health secretary also spoke of an “indemnity fund” that Sanofi can put up in order to cover the costs of medical care and hospitalization for the children that may be afflicted by a severe case of dengue after having been inoculated with Dengvaxia. The French firm should do the right thing and show the Filipinos that it has the much-touted “Western values” and help the government build this indemnity fund.
Dengvaxia gained marketing approval for its dengue vaccine in 11 countries – Mexico, Philippines, Brazil, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Paraguay, Guatemala, Peru, Indonesia, Thailand, and Singapore. However, the Philippines was the only one to make a huge purchase from Sanofi Pasteur, with the previous government buying 13.5 billion worth of Dengvaxia that was planned to be administered to 1 million public school children.
The Philippines was also the only one to implement a large-scale public immunization program with school children in Metro Manila, Central Luzon, and Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, and Quezon) receiving at least one dose of Dengvaxia. The manufacturer had recommended a total three shots of the vaccine at six-month intervals.
Other countries were more circumspect and protective of its citizens. Mexico, which was the first country to give regulatory approval to Dengvaxia, made the vaccine available only in private health care clinics. The vaccine was not made part of its public health program despite the country’s high rate of dengue cases.
In the Philippines, Dengvaxia was also offered in private clinics and hospitals at a price of 13,000 to 15,000 per shot. It is not known how many individuals from 9 to 45 years of age opted to get their shots from these private establishments. The public school children, on the other hand, received the vaccine for free (but the government paid for it, at 11,000 per injection or 13,000 budget per child).
Indonesia, despite having the world’s second highest rate of dengue transmissions, still decided not to have a national vaccination program. It clearly wanted to protect its citizens, thus its decision to conduct a large-scale testing of the vaccine, a process which will take years and with first results out only in 2018.
Brazil has the biggest number of dengue cases in the world. Recently, its health care regulator Anvisa advised that Dengvaxia vaccine, which it had approved for use in 2015, is now recommended only for people who have had dengue.
The Senate and the House, and other government agencies investigating this Dengvaxia debacle, should also look into how the program was funded. Apparently, there was no official allotment for the dengue vaccine in the general appropriations as required by law.
The 1 3.5 billion used to buy Dengvaxia reportedly was realigned from other government savings, which as the Supreme Court has ruled in the case of the Disbursement Acceleration Program is an unconstitutional act.