Setback in the fight against dengue
The World Health Organization (WHO) is reviewing the efficacy and safety of Dengvaxia through the Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety and the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (Sage) on immunization.
The parents of 733,713 children from Central Luzon, Calabarzon and National Capital Region, not to mention the countless others in the rest of the country who have been given the dengue vaccine as of last month, have been urged not to panic by the Department of Health (DOH). And why should they? It’s not like their children were turned into guinea pigs by the vaccine’s manufacturer, Sanofi Pasteur, and, to some extent, the DOH. Because, for all intents and purposes, that’s what it looked like. I mean, how else would you describe it? But then again, if all those children here in the Philippines and those children in Brazil, who were also given the vaccine, did not subject themselves to the program, then the manufacturer would not have known that Dengvaxia may pose a greater health risk to those who had not been infected with the dengue virus.
And I hate to point it out, but there’s no such thing as a wonder drug. And no, Viagra doesn’t count.
Even Sanofi, in its own website sanofipasteur. com, never promised that its drug would mean the eradication of the disease. It only said that “Dengvaxia has the potential to significantly reduce the dengue disease burden….”
According to the same website, the vaccine “is the culmination of over two decades of scientific innovation and collaboration, as well as 25 clinical studies in 15 countries around the world. Over 40,000 volunteers participated in the Sanofi Pasteur dengue vaccine clinical study program (phase I, II and III), of whom, 29,000 volunteers received the vaccine.”
No doubt that translated to millions of dollars in research and development that the manufacturer wants to recoup. As soon as possible.
So it probably went around the world to peddle its latest ware and, lo and behold, countries like the Philippines, Brazil and Mexico quickly snatched it up.
Mind you, these countries have seen a significant jump in dengue cases in the last decade.
In 2015 alone, the Philippines reported 87,411 suspected cases of dengue. The number rose to 101,401 suspected cases last year, or a jump of 16 percent. (It’s interesting to note, though, that the number of deaths dropped from 322 fatalities in 2015 to 231 cases last year.)
But I don’t think that’s why some local officials are having a hissy fit about the whole thing.
When Dr. Rene Catan, head of the Cebu Provincial Health Office, first heard about DOH’s P3-billion dengue vaccination program, he said he opposed it. He thought there was no need to rush into things, as there were questions that the manufacturer had not yet answered.
But the DOH pushed through with the distribution of the vaccines in Cebu Province after local officials were convinced that these were safe for use, he told SunStar Cebu’s Justin K. Vestil.
Was he surprised about this recent development? No. In fact, Dr. Catan said he feels “vindicated,” but, at the same time, worried about what would happen to the thousands who got the vaccine.