Dengvaxia fiasco

Child rights advocates celebrated Valentine’s day through public information campaign in relation to the Dengvaxia fiasco. While the administration and the opposition point fingers at each other, hundreds of thousands of children remain in danger. One of the best ways to show our love to children and their parents is to help them understand the issue, seek accountability from the government and enjoin them as we rise for free public health care.

As long as the public health care system is commercialized, public officials and foreign pharmaceutical companies like Sanofi will continue to connive in advancing their own interest instead of public welfare.

The previous administration must be held accountable for the Dengvaxia fiasco. But it is ironic that the current administration continued the implementation of this anti-dengue vaccination as part of the neoliberal and profit-oriented health care system which put the lives of almost 850,000 children at extreme risk” Bonganay added.

This is just the start of our information drive; Rise for Free Public Health Care campaign will also be held in schools and communities where the DOH mass vaccination were implemented. We are now coordinating with public health experts to effectively inform our children, parents and concerned citizens on what to do in case their child was vaccinated by Dengvaxia, where to go when their child show symptoms of the disease and how to avoid dengue. These frequently asked questions could have been answered by the government immediately if only they stop politicizing the issue.

The activity was part of the annual One Billion Rising, a global call to women and children survivors of violence and those who love them to gather in places and break the silence and release their stories through dance, marches, rituals, songs, spoken words, testimonies and whatever way feels right.--