Financial aid for kids injected with Dengvaxia imperiled

Children injected with the Dengvaxia vaccine are in danger of losing financial support from the government due to a clause in the P1.161-billion supplemental budget passed by the Senate, House appropriations committee chair, Davao City Rep. Karlo Nograles, warned on Sunday.

Nograles pointed this out when he met on Saturday with a group of parents whose children were some of the 800,000 grade school students who got the antidengue vaccine shots.

Dengvaxia, developed and manufactured by French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi Pasteur, had been blamed for the deaths of dozens of its recipients.

Unlike the House version, he said the supplemental budget approved by the Senate stated that “dengue patients,” instead of “Dengvaxia vaccinees,” might avail of financial assistance for their hospitalization.

Nograles cited the case of Rachel Abian, who brought her son to a private hospital after showing symptoms associated with dengue.

“If we adopt the Senate version that says the beneficiaries should be children [afflicted] with dengue, then if the doctors later learn that [Abian’s son] is not suffering from dengue but another illness, her child will be ineligible for government support,” he said.

“This is unfair to her child and the other children who received Dengvaxia because they are forced to take precautions… It’s not right because we have an obligation to these kids,” he said.