ILOILO Representative Janette Garin is pushing for the creation of a National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (Nitag) that will handle the immunization program of the country.
"Immunization should be handled by experts, not by Congress, and not by the Senate. Our situation in the Philippines is that we don't have any Nitag, the vaccination expert," she said in a press conference Friday, October 4.
She added that almost all countries in the world have Nitag, the vaccination expert that is "immune from the government but funded by the government."
Garin said when she was still undersecretary of the Department of Health (DOH), she was looking for the Nitag "but realized that the National Immunization Committee was dissolved by then DOH secretary Enrique Ona Jr.
"We tried putting it back but Secretary Ona doesn't want it back," she said.
Ona was the secretary of the DOH from 2010 to 2014.
"Nitag cannot be dissolved even by any secretary. That's why it needs to be legislated that other countries have," Garin added.
Nitag representatives would usually confer with the Strategic Advisory Group of Expert of the World Health Organization (WHO).
"If you have a Nitag, your movements will be aligned with the World Health Organization, the real experts can speak up," Garin added.
She emphasized the legislation of Nitag to prevent fake news and misinformation about immunizations being told by so-called experts and "anti-vaxxers" who also work in the health department.
"If what they are telling will harm public health and people, then I should stand up as a doctor. Because with power comes responsibility," Garin said.
She stressed that "tetanus vaccine or tetanus toxoid that allegedly causes sterility or miscarriages is fake news. Measles vaccine being linked to autism is also fake news. Dengue vaccine and deaths is also fake news. Polio vaccine and sterility is also fake news."
According to WHO, Nitags are multidisciplinary groups of national experts responsible for providing independent, evidence-informed advice to policymakers and program managers on policy issues related to immunization and vaccines. (SunStar Philippines)