TACLOBAN CITY- The Department of Health (DOH) here in the region debunked allegation that children who were vaccinated using the Dengvaxia could get severe dengue fever.
In fact, children who were vaccinated by Dengvaxia could get immunity from getting the ailment for the next 30 months, said regional health information officer John Paul Roca.
“We want to inform the public that Dengvaxia is beneficial if a child had a dengue before and if not, the vaccine can give you 30 months immunity. It is not true that if the child who got sick of dengue before will suddenly have dengue after the expiration of the vaccine. The child will only have dengue if they will be bitten by a mosquito (harboring the) dengue (virus),” Roca said.
Roca stressed that only a mosquito carrying dengue virus can infect a person or a child with the deadly disease. Dengue fever could not be transmitted through person-to-person.
He added that a clean environment is one way to prevent and avoid getting the dengue virus.
Roca added that a report of a 12-year old girl said to have been inoculated by the Dengvaxia vaccine and was hospitalized at the Samar Provincial Hospital and later confined at the Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center was not immunized in the region but in Bulacan province.
The girl suffered mild dengue but was later on discharged from the hospital after she recovered.
The girl was in Samar for a Christmas break with her family when she got sick due to dengue fever.
The DOH did not conduct immunization on dengue using the Dengvaxia vaccine in the region in 2016 although 800,000 students from Metro Manila, Central Luzon and Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon) received the controversial vaccine.
Dengvaxia, developed by a French manufacturer Sanofi Pasteur became controversial after the company admitted that those who received the vaccine but do not have prior dengue infection could possibly develop a severe dengue.
The Senate conducted a probe on this issue summoning former President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino and his health secretary, Janette Garin.
The national government spent P3.5 billion for the procurement of the Dengvaxia vaccine.
Earlier, the World Health Organization issued a statement saying that Dengvaxia vaccine against dengue was safe and reduces the risk of dengue infection and was proven to be effective in cutting the rate of infection and the risk of hospitalization for seropositive persons.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)
