CITY OF San Fernando -- The Local Government of San Fernando launched on Thursday its school-based dengue vaccination aimed at targeting the virus at the school level.

The City Health Office (CHO) led the vaccination at San Fernando Elementary school with 1,000 Grade 4 pupils free three doses of vaccine "Dengvaxia", which is considered as the world's first vaccine against mosquito-borne dengue virus.

Program Coordinator Dr. Renely Tungol said that some 5,700 Grade 4 students from all public schools in the city will be given free dengue vaccine this month.

"We started administering the vaccine last April 4 and we are glad that no negative reactions were reported, so far," he said.

Mayor Edwin Santiago urged the public to support the campaign of the Department of Health aimed at eliminating the number of dengue cases nationwide.

Some 224 dengue cases were recorded by the CHO from January of this year, resulting to a 35 percent increase compared with the same period in 2015 with only 165 cases.

“We are lucky to be one of the pilot receivers of this free vaccine. We need your support to ensure that children are protected against dengue,” Santiago said.

Meanwhile, the next dose of dengue vaccine shall be administered after six months.