Vaccines not maximized due to ‘Dengvaxia scare’—PHO

At least 21,500 vaccine vials remain unused, according to the Cebu Provincial Health Office (PHO).

Over half of the provision of vaccines—14, 873 vials for measles, 9, 864 vials for tetanus – diphtheria (TD), and 18, 440 vials for human papillomavirus (HPV)—from the Department of Health continue to sit idly in the PHO and Rural Health Units’ cold storage facilities.

Doctor Rene Catan, PHO chief, said the vaccines have not been utilized because parents refused to get their children immunized following the Dengvaxia controversy.

“Wala gitugtan ang mga bata sa ilang inahan magpaimmunize,” he said.

He said the decline in child immunization is partly attributed to the health scare over the Dengvaxia dengue vaccine, which some parents blamed for child deaths.

The sale, distribution and marketing of Dengvaxia, the world’s first vaccine against dengue virus, was stopped after French pharmaceutical company Sanofi Pasteur revealed that the vaccine poses risks to people without a history of dengue.

After the news broke out, the government’s dengue vaccination program was suspended early December of 2017 and regional health authorities were ordered to heighten surveillance of the thousands of children who received the first dose.

To remove all clouds of doubts, Governor Hilario Davide III said PHO should strengthen the information drive on the importance of immunization.