The House Committee on Appropriations on Tuesday approved the P1.161-billion supplemental budget for 2018 for Dengvaxia vaccinees.
Rep. Karlo Nograles of Davao, the panel chairman, said the supplemental budget would cover much-needed stand-by medical aid for Dengvaxia vaccinees victims.
According to Nograles, tapped for the supplemental budget is the entirety of the money refunded to the Philippine government by French pharmaceutical firm Sanofi Pasteur, makers of the controversial anti-Dengue vaccine.
“This committee will send it to the floor… I plan to have this approved on the floor by next week, for second and third reading. We still have to send it to the Senate,” Nograles said.
The lower chamber is planning to approve the House Bill (HB) 7449 or the proposed Supplemental Budget for 2018 using Sanofi’s refund for the unused vials of the Dengvaxia by the end of the month, or before the 17th Congress concludes its second regular session and goes on break on May 30.
The supplemental budget, based on the proposal submitted by the Department of Health (DOH), shall fund the following programs or activities: P945.82 million for the Medical Assistance Program, which includes assistance for admitted patients in hospitals and for outpatients; P78.29 million for the assessment and monitoring of Dengvaxia vaccinees; P70 million for the supplies and medicine and P67.59 million for human resource deployment.
The DOH said that their allocation of P945.8 million for medical assistance would be enough to last four to five years wherein they intend to take care of the victims.
The health department said the Dengvaxia ID cards being earmarked in the supplemental budget will be sturdier than the Dengvaxia cards released by the agency last January.
In April 2016, the Philippines became the first country in the world to launch a mass anti-dengue inoculation program using Dengvaxia, a relatively new drug.
The program was suspended after Sanofi admitted in November 2017 that children who have never had dengue but were given Dengvaxia shots have an increased risk of a severe case and hospitalization up to the fifth year after immunization.