In Zambales, gov’t turns vaccine drive into health showcase

IBA, Zambales—Nine-year-old Starlie Rose Cabalig was a portrait of calmness on Tuesday as Health Secretary Janette Garin, other officials and a crowd looked on while the girl received a shot of the world’s first antidengue vaccine.

Starlie did not grimace or look away when the needle that would inject her with the vaccine punctured her skin in front of a crowd that gathered at the People’s Park in front of the provincial capitol building.

The health department launched the government’s dengue immunization program here with President Aquino as guest.

When Starlie took her vaccine shot, she knew what to do. After the injection, Starlie quickly smiled as if to show the prick of the needle was just that, a prick.

Starlie, a Grade 4 pupil of the Asian Development Bank Spouses Association-Aeta Elementary School in Barangay Palanginan here, is among the students who received the antidengue vaccine under a program being administered nationwide by the Department of Health (DOH).

The selected beneficiaries here are all 9-year-old pupils.

In his speech, Mr. Aquino highlighted his administration’s initiatives in eradicating dengue.

“Today, we have witnessed the launching of the dengue immunization program here in Central Luzon,” said Mr. Aquino.

2nd country

“This only proves our commitment to do all scientific strategies possible to ensure the health and well-being of our constituents,” he said.

The availability of the vaccine, with the name Dengvaxia, would reduce the “debilitating effects of dengue, if not totally eradicate the disease,” he said.

“The Philippines is the second country to give license to Dengvaxia, the first dengue vaccine in the world, with a P3.5-billion allotment from the DOH,” he added.

The Philippines is the first to introduce, adopt and implement the dengue vaccine through a public health system and under public school settings, according to Garin.

“With this breakthrough, we can now expand our immunization services to address a disease that is of public health importance,” Garin said.

In a statement, the DOH said the vaccine would be delivered in three doses. The next two doses would be given to beneficiary-students six months after their first shots.

Decade of studies

The dengue vaccine is the result of more than a decade of “efficacy and safety studies” across 10 countries, involving more than 30,000 children, the DOH said.

Garin said the Philippines had the highest dengue infection rate in the Western Pacific region from 2013 to 2015. As of Feb. 20, the DOH recorded 18,790 suspected dengue cases nationwide.