AMID the controversy surrounding the anti-dengue vaccine Dengvaxia, health officials in Northern Mindanao are thankful that region was spared from the potential risks of the vaccine to its recipients.
Although Cagayan de Oro City posted a high number of dengue cases last year, city health officer Dr. Fe Bongcas said she had her reservations when Dengvaxia was released and distributed to various schools in the National Capital Region and two other regions in Luzon last year.
According to the Department of Health (DOH), close to a million pupils were inoculated with Dengvaxia, manufactured by the French-based pharmaceutical company Sanofi Pasteur.
However, on November 29, Sanofi Pasteur posted on its website an official statement saying that those who were injected with the vaccine but had not been previously infected may be in danger of contracting a more severe form of the disease.
When Dengvaxia was pilot-tested in those regions, Bongcas said she was apprehensive of its effectiveness since it was the first time that the vaccine was being used.
“I had apprehensions about it (Dengvaxia),” she said, adding that since the vaccine was new, further study must be made to ensure it is safe for people.
Although Cagayan de Oro and the rest of the region were excluded in the pilot areas that were tested, Bongcas said she would not have recommended it.
The city health recorded 2,107 dengue cases, with six deaths last year. As of December 6, there are 1,574 cases with eight mortalities, this year.
“I was thankful we were not included because that will be a big problem (for us),” she said.
Had the city been included as one of the pilot areas, Bongcas said it would have affected the city health department’s regular immunization programs after reports came out regarding Dengvaxia’s possible side effects to schoolchildren, especially those who have not yet been infected with the dengue virus.
At present, the local health office is implementing the inoculation of vaccines for DPT (diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus), polio, and other potential diseases, with infants and minors as primary recipients.
Even now, parents have expressed fear of the effects of those primary vaccines that have been around for decades and have already immunized millions of children nationwide, she said.
Bongcase said she has already advised the city’s health workers on the field to explain and assure parents that Dengvaxia is a different vaccine and that the current vaccines such as DPT being administered to their children are proven to be safe.
For his part, Misamis Oriental provincial health officer Dr. Jerie Calingasan said that when DOH began injecting Dengvaxia to the pilot areas, there were no clear guidelines on who should receive it.
He said the vaccine is intended for people who are “zero positive” or those who already have contracted the dengue virus and therefore had developed antibodies in their system.
Antibodies are proteins produced by a person’s body to combat pathogenic bacteria and viruses.
Calingasan said health authorities in those pilot areas failed to check if those immunized already have antibodies.
“The vaccine itself is okay, but they should have made a thorough laboratory examination (before releasing it),” he said.
He said his office had requested for the Dengvaxia last August as he wanted the school kids in Misamis Oriental to also avail themselves of such vaccine, but now he is grateful that the province was excluded in the first wave of the anti-dengue immunization.
“It was supposed to be a vaccine for all. But we are just thankful that we were excluded in the list,” Calingasan added.