DOH welcomes Senate OK of Dengvaxia supplemental budget

The Department of Health (DOH) on Thursday welcomed the Senate’s approval  of  a P1.161-billion supplemental budget to fund the needs of children who were given the controversial Dengvaxia anti-dengue vaccine.

“We are extremely gratified by the Senate’s action approving the Dengue-Dengvaxia supplemental budget… which the DOH successfully demanded from Sanofi about 3 or 4 months ago and was returned to the Bureau of Treasury,” Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said in a Palace briefing.

READ: Senate approves P1.16B supplemental budget for Dengvaxia recipients

A counterpart measure was approved in the House of Representatives last May.

The budget will be sourced from the refund of the unused Dengvaxia vials from Sanofi Pasteur, which manufactured the vaccine.

In December 2017, the country’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stopped the distribution of Dengvaxia after Sanofi Pasteur admitted that immunization could be dangerous among seronegative recipients, or those who have not been infected with the dengue virus prior to vaccination.

According to the DOH, more than 830,000 individuals, mostly children, had been vaccinated under the government’s P3 billion anti-dengue immunization program.

A legislative inquiry has summoned former government officials for possibly being liable for negligence for purchasing the vaccine. /muf