MAKATI Mayor Abigail Binay has ordered the immediate suspension of the city’s anti-dengue vaccination drive in light of recent news reports that the vaccine has not been thoroughly studied, and students and city employees administered of the vaccine provided by the Department of Health (DOH) need to be monitored.
Binay ordered Makati Health Department (MHD) Officer in Charge Dr. Bernard Sese to coordinate with the Department of Education office in Makati.
The vaccination drive for city-government employees was also suspended until the DOH issues a clarification, as well as concrete guidelines on their course of action.
“The best thing we can do right now is to closely monitor the health of students, as well as employees who received the anti-dengue vaccines. We will track down everyone who has been vaccinated and monitor their condition for any developments,” she said.
On August 14 Makati launched a city-wide vaccination program against dengue for children aged 9 to 14. The city received 65,000 units of anti-dengue vaccines from the DOH and mobilized doctors and nurses to cover all health centers, as well as public elementary schools and high schools in Makati.
Sese said there are still several public-high schools that have not received the anti-dengue vaccine. The schedule for these schools havs been postponed indefinitely until DOH releases an advisory.
On Wednesday Sanofi Pasteur, the manufacturer of the dengue vaccine Dengvaxia, released a statement saying the drug may be harmful when administered to individuals not previously infected with dengue. The Philippines was the first country in Asia to approve the dengue vaccine for individuals aged 9 and 45 years old in December 2015.
The MHD noted, however, the vaccination drive for Japanese Encephalitis (JE) for both city-government employees, as well as public-school students will continue.
On Monday Makati City launched a vaccination drive against JE that will cover public-school pupils from Kindergsrten to Grade 6, as well as all city government employees. This is the first public-vaccination campaign against JE, but the JE vaccine has been around since 2013.