EVEN the vaccine for Human papillomavirus (HPV) is affected by the Dengvaxia scare, an official said.
Davao City Health Officer Dr. Josephine Villafuerte in a media interview Monday, June 4, said the program for the HPV vaccination of 9-13-year-old school children did not work because some mothers pulled out their consent forms.
"Nagkaroon ng programa, sumabay ang Dengvaxia issue so, the mothers they pulled out their consent so naiwan ang mga vaccines at hindi nagamit. Rather than ma-expire you have to give it also to other age groups," she said.
Baed on reports, experts suggest that adolescents avail of the HPV vaccine before they engage in a sexual activity to prevent HPV, which is also a common cause of cervical cancer.
The city was given originally 15,000 vials of HPV for the second round of vaccination last November 2017, but only 2,000 were able to avail.
She explained that as the medicines are about to expire they decided to give the remaining 13,000 vials to women below 45 years old for free.
Villafuerte said the guidelines indicate that ages 9 to 13 be prioritized but they gave it outside the target age because the non-usage of 13,000 vials of HPV means the loss of P45,500,000 worth of medicines.
She said they consulted specialists prior to the distribution of vaccines.
She said with the instruction given, children who did not avail of the second round of vaccines can still go to private clinics and pay at least P3,500 per one vial.
CHO from June 1 to 4 gave vaccines give it to women below 45 years old, and right now not a single vaccine was left.
She said with the Dengvaxia scare, they always explain that no adverse effects have been observed after the use of the vaccine unlike the Dengvaxia, which is a new vaccine.
It can be noted that the measles vaccine also suffered from the Dengvaxia scare as some mothers refused also to have their children immunized citing that the vaccine may also have adverse effects.
A measles outbreak was declared in the city last January.
Meanwhile, as to the human anti-rabies vaccine, Villafuerte said they are hopeful to be able to address the shortage since they are now allowed to buy vaccines which are not pre-qualified by World Health Organization.
"There is a pre-qualified for WHO vaccine but it is out of stock, so we could use the not pre-qualified, it is the same generic but a different brand," she said.
She said they will be purchasing around 200 vials for the first two dose.