Iloilo Rep. Janette Loreto-Garin of Iloilo. (Inquirer/Lyn Rillon)
MANILA, Philippines — Former Health Secretary and Iloilo 1st District Rep. Janette Garin blamed low vaccination rates for the rise in pertussis or whooping cough cases across the country, as she urged the public to take necessary precautions.
In a statement on Friday, Garin said the increase in pertussis cases is alarming but can be prevented through vaccination and good hygiene.
“This is alarming but we can prevent the spread of this disease through vaccination and observing proper hygiene,” Garin said.
“One of its causes is the recent decline in vaccine uptake brought about by fake news and infodemic has also affected the uptake of DPT (diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus). Vaccination saves lives hence we need to catch up,” she added.
On Thursday, Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte declared a pertussis outbreak as the local government’s Epidemiology and Surveillance Division logged 23 cases since the start of the year up to March 20.
Earlier, it was reported that in Western Visayas, a 100-percent rise in cases of pertussis was recorded in early March.
The Department of Health (DOH) said that all in all, 453 cases of pertussis have been reported in just the first 10 weeks of 2024 — noting that it is a high increase compared to the 27 cases during the same period in 2019; 27 in 2020; seven in 2021; two in 2022; and 23 in 2023.
Garin urged parents to monitor their children, especially young ones who are more susceptible to this ailment.
“This disease is contagious especially for kids and infants. Because they are young, they do not know where they can be infected, that’s why it’s a huge responsibility for parents to protect their children from this ailment,” she added.
Garin has been critical about misinformation regarding vaccines’ efficacy, especially during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Several health experts have attributed the low vaccine confidence among Filipinos to the anti-dengue vaccines, where individuals inoculated with Sanofi Pasteur’s Dengvaxia allegedly experienced worse symptoms when they contracted dengue. Some even claimed that vaccinated patients died after getting infected with dengue, leading to lawsuits against Department of Health (DOH) officials.
DOH previously admitted that the measles outbreaks recorded in the past few years were due to low vaccine confidence brought by Dengvaxia.
Garin, who was DOH chief when the Dengvaxia vaccines were distributed, maintained that the vaccines were safe and have been proven effective, noting that other countries who used the same exact vials did not encounter problems raised by the Public Attorney’s Office.