Palace vows to get to the bottom of dengue vaccine ‘health scam’

Malacañang on Sunday would “leave no stone unturned” in making those responsible for a suspended dengue immunisation programme, which it said placed thousands of lives at risk.

In a statement on Sunday, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque slammed the “public health scam” "We will leave no stone unturned in making those responsible for this shameless public health scam which puts hundreds of thousands of young lives at risk accountable,".

But despite this, he also called on the public to not spread information that may further cause undue alarm. 

“We understand the concern of our people, especially the parents and the relatives of public elementary children residing in Regions III, IV-A, and NCR, where the dengue vaccination initiative was launched by the previous administration,”.

Last Friday, The Department of Health (DOH) suspend the use of a dengue vaccine made by Sanofi after the company said its use must be strictly limited due to evidence it can worsen the disease in people who have not previously been exposed to the infection.

Health Officials said on Friday, More than 730,000 children, ages 9 and up, received one dose of the Dengvaxia vaccine last year. The immunization program is in line with the recommendation of the World Health Organization for mass vaccination in highly endemic countries.

While Sanofi’s Dengvaxia is the first-ever approved vaccine for dengue, scientists already recognized it was not perfect and did not protect equally against the four different types of the virus in clinical tests.

But for those not previously infected by the virus, more cases of the severe disease could occur in the long term following vaccination upon a subsequent dengue infection, Sanofi said.

A new analysis from six years of clinical data showed that Dengvaxia vaccine provides persistent protective benefit against dengue fever in those who had a prior infection.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque said his department would track the medical history of the thousands of children who were vaccinated and intensify its surveillance to ensure proper care would be given to anyone who may need it.

Senators said over the weekend they would call for an investigation into the dengue immunisation programme to find out what actions the government needed take to protect those who may be exposed to the drug's negative effect.

Senator JV Ejercito, chairman of the Senate's committee on health, told reporters he wanted to know as well if there was any irregularity in the procurement of the vaccine.