DepEd to monitor closely students administered with Dengvaxia
The Department of Education (DepEd) vowed on Saturday to work closely with the Department of Health (DOH) in monitoring the thousands of students who have been administered with the anti-dengue vaccine, Dengvaxia.
“As the health and safety of our learners are of principal importance, the [DepEd], in close coordination with the [DOH], will monitor the condition of learners who have been administered with the dengue vaccine Dengvaxia,” the DepEd said in a statement.
“As a stakeholder, DepEd will likewise be actively participating in the review and consultations of DOH on the dengue vaccination program,” it added.
The DOH has recently suspended its P3.5-billion anti-dengue immunization drive after pharmaceutical giant, Sanofi Pasteur, admitted that its vaccine, Dengvaxia, could lead to more severe symptoms for people who had not previously been infected.
The agency said more than 733,000 public schoolchildren 9 years old and above in three highly endemic regions—Metro Manila, Central Luzon and Calabarzon—have received at least the first of three doses of the first licensed dengue vaccine.
The botched program has drawn huge criticism from the public and government officials alike. In a Facebook post, former DOH undersecretary Dr. Susan Mercado said the program was the “biggest government-funded clinical-trial-masked-as-a-public-health-program scam of an experimental drug in the history of the DOH.”
Several senators have called for an investigation into the issue to hold officials accountable for the mess.
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