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Monday, January 10, 2005
Health exec: Meningo vaccine sale not authorized
By Rimaliza Opiña
BAGUIO CITY -- Health officials warned residents against unscrupulous individuals going around and selling vaccines for the infectious blood illness plaguing the city and the region.
Two new patients suspected of having contracted meningococcemia, an acute infection of the bloodstream, were rushed to the Luis Hora Hospital in Bauko, Mt. Province on Saturday.
Medical workers said the two are siblings: one was brought in first and was declared dead while the other was brought in six hours after and is now under observation.
Dr. Antonio Bautista, spokesperson of the Department of Health (DOH) Meningo Task Force, said the department has not authorized anyone or assigned representatives to sell vaccines for meningococcemia, caused by a bacteria that live in an individual's upper respiratory contact and spread through droplets released when a person sneezes.
Bautista urged the public not to be duped by individuals or groups offering vaccines, even if the price is cheap, as they are not assured of the medicine's potency and authenticity.
Reports reaching the health department in the Cordillera region disclosed some enterprising individuals, claiming to be authorized representatives of DOH, were offering the vaccines at P500 per shot.
Vaccines for meningococcemia cost around P1,500 to P2,500.
The DOH-CAR could not immediately ascertain the exact circumstances surrounding the two recent admissions to the Bauko Hospital reportedly due to the lack of communication facilities in the area.
Bautista said DOH is still awaiting the report of the Bauko Municipal Health Office on the two new admissions.
Two other persons admitted Wednesday last week were diagnosed to be suffering from typhoid fever and not meningococcemia.
(January 10, 2005 issue)
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