Child dies of dengue as Dengvaxia controversy rages

Department of Health Assistant Secretary Dr. Eric Tayag. AP FILE

As senators and other government officials tried to sort out the Dengvaxia debacle, a 7-year-old child died due to severe dengue, Health Assistant Secretary Eric Tayag said Tuesday.

In a tweet, Tayag said the girl, whom he visited in the hospital, died early Tuesday after suffering from organ failure. He said she was unvaccinated.

“Yesterday while the Senate was unearthing facts to sort out the #dengvaxia debacle, I prayed hard so that a 7 year old girl I visited in a hospital will recover from organ failure due to severe #dengue,” he wrote.

“She was unvaccinated She died early today. I’m (brokenhearted) #stopDengue,” he added.

Yesterday while the senate was unearthing facts to sort out the #dengvaxia debacle, I prayed hard so that a 7 year old girl I visited in a hospital will recover from organ failure due to severe #dengue She was unvaccinated She died early today I’m#stopDengue

— Doc Eric Tayag (@erictayagSays) December 11, 2017

The Senate Blue Ribbon, health, and finance committees launched on Monday their probe on the Dengvaxia vaccine controversy, a P3.5-billion immunization program recently suspended by the Department of Health.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III suspended the program after pharmaceutical giant Sanofi Pasteur admitted that the vaccine could lead to more severe symptoms for people who had not been infected by dengue prior to vaccination.

Tayag did not say if the girl who died had dengue for the first time.

The Department Health said more than 800,00 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. /cbb