MANILA – A House of Representatives committee approved a P1.16-billion supplemental budget that will be used to aid children inoculated with the controversial anti-dengue vaccine Dengvaxia.
The bill pushing for the allocation stated that the amount – proposed by the Department of Health – will come from the partial refund for unused vials of the vaccine.
French pharmaceutical company Sanofi Pasteur, manufacturer of Dengvaxia, made the refund to the government through local distributor Zuellig Pharma.
The House Committee on Appropriations approved the measure on Tuesday.
Eighty-one percent, or P945 million, of the supplemental budget was allocated for a medical assistance program, or health assistance fund, for Dengvaxia vaccinee.
Thirteen percent, or around P148 million, was for public health management, P78 million for assessment and monitoring Dengvaxia vaccinees, P70 million for supplies and medicines, and P67 million for human resource for health deployment.
Around P25 million was for supplies and medicines that nurses will use in monitoring patients and P45 million for the production of Dengvaxia assistance card for patients.
Roughly 382 nurses/health education and promotion officers will be deployed to four regions for five months to provide counseling, lecture sessions, disease prevention and health promotion, monitoring and follow-up on Dengvaxia vaccinees.
The Philippines initiated a nationwide public dengue immunization program in summer of 2016 – a world first – after buying P3.5 billion worth of Dengvaxia shots for 1 million public school children in regions reported to have the highest incidence of dengue.
The Health department stopped the program in December 2017 after Sanofi Pasteur disclosed that Dengvaxia might cause severe symptoms among those who have not been infected by the dengue virus./PN
