Still no official word on Dengvaxia kids

THE Department of Health 11 said it has no mandate yet on how to attend to children vaccinated with Dengvaxia should they acquire dengue and need hospitalization.

Doctor Annabelle Yumang, DOH 11 assistant regional director, said this when asked whether the government will sponsor the medication and treatment of those Dengvaxia vaccinated children if they show symptoms of severe dengue during the Connect held at SM Lanang Premier yesterday.

But she added that based from her experience with DOH’s other immunization programs, government shoulders the patients hospitalization if problems occur as a result of a program. That’s why they are closely monitoring who were vaccinated with Dengvaxia.

She also said the DOH 11 will be sending letters to private institutions and private medical practitioners, requesting them to furnish the DOH 11 the list of their patients who were given Dengvaxia vaccine.

She said this is necessary for them to be able to monitor and conduct surveillance on the affected children.

“As for the government, walang children na na-vaccinated with Dengvaxia, but we don’t know sa private institu-

tions since they have not reported to us or furnished the list of their vaccinated patients,” she said.

As of yesterday, December 7, 2017 the letters were ready to be dispatched to different medical societies, including the Davao Medical Society and the Philippine Pediatric SocietyDavao Chapter.

Davao is not among the pilot areas, and thus, DOH has not administered the vaccine to any child here. Only the top six regions affected by dengue were mandated for Dengvaxia pilot-testing.