Dengue vaccination program: Should it be continued?

There is disagreement in the medical field, between private medical practitioners and of the Department of Health, regarding the current nationwide dengue vaccination program for nine-year-old children in public schools.

As reported by Dr. Cecilia Montalban, Philippine Foundation for Vaccination president, about 100,000 are infected with the dengue virus every year. But it has not been determined whether they have been diagnosed with the minor-type, also referred to as dengue fever (DF), which lasts from five to seven days without any complications; or with the severe form, also called the dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF), which strikes with bleeding tendencies in the nose (epistaxis), gastrointestinal tract, gums, and profuse menstruation (menorrhagia)—leading to shock and sometimes death.

Even without vaccination, the incidence of DF is about 90 percent; that of DHF is only 10 percent, but DHF has a mortality rate of 10 percent.

We must remember that DF is not considered fatal.  With Dengvaxia, the vaccine used by the DOH, the protection rate from  dengue is about 60 to 63 percent for DF cases; it shoots up to 90 percent for DHF. The question is: Should we continue with DOH’s dengue vaccination program? The DOH allotted a huge budget of P3.5 billion for this project. May we ask: How much has it spent as of this writing?

Clinical trials in our country have been for short periods of time, and no reports have been issued with regard to the vaccine’s side effects, idiosyncracies and complications affecting such internal organs as the heart, liver and kidneys. These matter, we must know.

ELISEO R. REBLANDO, MD, FPAFP, DFM, past president, Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines