Anti-dengue vaccine Dengvaxia

MANILA, Philippines —President Rodrigo Duterte has selected three experts to form the Asian panel who will investigate the effects of the controversial vaccine, Dengvaxia.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque said the information may likely be made public next week after the arrival of Duterte on Sunday (September 9) from his historic visit to Israel and Jordan.

Malacañang mentioned before that the President will pick three among the recommended experts from Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, and Sri Lanka.

“Part of the presidential directive is, those members of the panel, the experts, must come from the countries where the Dengvaxia immunization program was also implemented,” said Duque.

He added that the investigation by the Asian panel of experts on Dengvaxia is expected to be completed as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, the Health Department expressed gratitude to Congress for passing the P1.161 billion supplemental budget.

“ We are very gratified and thanks to the House and the Senate for their most positive decision to pass and approve this bill,” he said.

This will be used to finance the medical needs of the children who were inoculated with Dengvaxia vaccine.

Secretary Duque noted that around 900,000 people were injected with the anti-dengue vaccine and most of them are children. – Rosalie Coz

Tags: dengvaxia, President Rodrigo Duterte

MANILA, Philippines – Dengvaxia vaccinees can now be monitored digitally online and in real time by parents and guardians.

This is through a soon to be launched mobile apps called Abizo and Kaizala for Android, iOS and Microsoft phones.

The apps allow parents of vaccinees to report the condition of their children.

It aims to provide vaccinees a prompt response and immediate medical attention by the local government.

“ This is not mandatory… Parents who are interested in tracing and monitoring the state of their children, whether away from home or at school can take advantage of these two kind of apps,” explained Education Secretary Leonor Briones.

“If there’s a parent (who) downloaded the app and registered the name of his or her child, lalabas doon kaagad iyong names. If he provided the LRN then verified agad na siya iyong parent. If he didn’t provide, that report will be segregated then throwback again to DOH for validation. Kapag na-verify then we include them under the category of private sector,” added Education Undersecretary Alain Del Pascua.

The monitoring apps are also expected to help identify areas that have high incidence of Dengvaxia vaccinees who are getting sick.

“There are a checklist of symptoms that they can just say, may lagnat, pannakit ng ulo…madali na. Sasabihin na lang doon saan mo dadalhin iyong bata. Anong service delivery, part of the network mo siya dadalhin,” said Health Secretary Francisco Duque III.

The Department of Education (DepEd) and other stakeholders assured that the National Privacy Act will protect the data sharing between DepEd and the Department of Health (DOH) in using the mobile apps.

Parents may officially use the mobile apps at the end of August. – Aiko Miguel / UNTV News and Rescue

Tags: Abizo and Kaizala, dengvaxia

FILE PHOTO: Former President Benigno Aquino III

MANILA, Philippines – Former government officials maintained no wrongdoings in relation to the Dengvaxia anomaly.

During the preliminary investigation of the Department of Justice Monday, June 4, former President Benigno Aquino III. former Health Secretary Janette Garin and former Budget Secretary Florencio Abad personally submitted their counter affidavits on the controversial P3.5 billion pesos worth of Dengvaxia immunization program.

Aquino, Garin, and Abad are facing complaints filed by the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) and Vanguard of the Philippine Constitution (VPC.)

Aquino stressed there were no categorical findings directly linking Dengvaxia as the cause of death of some vaccinees.

‘Iyong mga may threat supposed to be ng mga may severe dengue, is anywhere from 0.2-10 percent, so iyong proteksyon for the 90 (percent) and more, should be avoided,” explained Aquino.

He also addressed the issue on the questionable procurement of the said vaccines which allegedly coincided with the election ban in 2016.

“Kapag dumating iyong election campaign, election ban which was March 26 to May 9. Anyway…Siguro Iyong last na action na sinasabi natin na kaugnay sa..Siguro iyong pag-execute ng disbursement order which happened March 9. So March 9 and March 26.Medyo magkalayo,” he argued.

Garin, meanwhile, emphasized that the confirmation of the deaths of children who were autopsied failed to follow the World Health Organization’s (WHO) guidelines.

“Sa pag-determine ng causality kung ito ba ay namatay sa bakuna o hindi—may proseso na sinusunod ang WHO hindi po ine-exhume o ino-autopsy ang pasyente,” Garin said.

The Public Attorney’s Office (PAO), which conducted the autopsies, lashed out at Garin

“WHO rin ang basis naming sa determination ng cause of death. May WHO materials din ang PAO,” Acosta defended.

The next hearing will be on June 22. – Mai Bermudez

Tags: Benigno Aquino III, dengvaxia, Florencio Abad, Janette Garin