THE Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) of Dagupan is counting its blessings today on learning about the national scare on Dengvaxia vaccine.

The city council had passed a resolution early this year asking the Department of Health (DOH) to allocate Dengvaxia vaccines for the city but DOH did not act on the city’s request.

Councilor Dennis Canto, chair of the Committee on Health of the SP, said the resolution, which he sponsored, was never acted upon by DOH.

He said the council passed the resolution, believing that the Dengvaxia vaccine is good for the children of Dagupan based on DOH’s earlier assurance.

Apparently, DOH during the administration of then Secretary Paulynn Obial had determined that Dagupan and Pangasinan were not priority areas for the anti-dengue vaccine.

The priority areas for the vaccine are the provinces of Region III and Region IV-A and the National Capital Region (NCR) which had high prevalence of dengue in 2016.

Canto said the SP was about to pass another resolution to reiterate its request for the vaccine when the controversy of Dengvaxia surfaced.

“We were about to pass another request addressed to Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, who is from Dagupan City, when the issue about Dengvaxia vaccine came out,” Canto told newsmen.

Secretary Duque suspended the inoculation of Dengvaxia vaccine in public schools pupils.

Canto believes that even without the vaccine, people of Dagupan can still prevent dengue by simply cleaning their surroundings that are potential breeding places of mosquitoes.

“Though we will no longer ask for the anti-dengue vaccine, we will continue to request for other services of the DOH, especially now that Secretary Duque is back at the helm of the health department”, Canto said. (Leonardo Micua)

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