No Dengvaxia vaccine from DOH
PANGASINAN SPARED
LINGAYEN—Pangasinan was initially disappointed that the province was not chosen pilot area by the Department of Health for dengue vaccination but as it turned out it was a blessing in disguise.
Pangasinan has been spared from the Dengvaxia vaccine scare because the province registered low dengue cases last year.
Dr. Anna Ma. Teresa de Guzman, provincial health officer, said, “The good news is, Pangasinan was not a recipient of the dengue vaccine last year when the Department of Health distributed and made pilot testing to endemic areas.”
“While we are happy that Pangasinan was not a recipient, it is not an assurance that no one was vaccinated with Dengvaxia in Pangasinan because the manufacturer of the vaccine has agreements with the private sector,” she added.
“But we assure the public that under the government sector, no one in Pangasinan was vaccinated (by PHO) with Dengvaxia last year and even this year,” De Guzman said.
She said Pangasinan and other parts of Region 1 were not considered priority areas for the vaccine because they registered low incidence of dengue last year.
Only areas where there were high prevalence of dengue in 2016 were made as pilot areas for the dengue vaccine, namely, provinces of Region III and Region IV-A as well as the National Capital Region (NCR).
What she said PHO did was merely to intensify the campaign against dengue using traditional means like urging the cleaning of surroundings, early consultation with a doctor in case a person has fever, self -protection by not using clothes that exposes body parts like legs and arms, use of screen in houses and the conduct of Kalusugan Caravan across the province.
The PHO is closely monitoring conditions of children who may have been vaccinated (by private doctors and hospitals) to see the effects of the vaccine on them.
Meanwhile, De Guzman reported that there is a 15 percent increase of dengue cases in Pangasinan this year, with 4,600 cases compared to last year’s 3,800.
However, there have been only 13 deaths compared to 14 last year. (Eva Visperas/Leonardo Micua)
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