ZAMBOANGA CITY -- The City Health Office is closely monitoring the condition of children who were injected with Dengvaxia vaccine in this city.
Dr. Dulce Amor Dagalea-Miravite, OIC-city health officer, told the Philippine News Agency that there were 136 children injected with Dengvaxia vaccine by pediatricians in private practice.
There was no Dengvaxia mass vaccination held in this city.
Miravite said they have advised the parents to seek early consultation once their son or daughter fell sick “so that they can be assisted.”
The cost of the vaccine is about PHP3,000 per dose and each child needs three doses to protect them from dengue.
Dengvaxia is the world’s first vaccine against dengue virus developed by French pharmaceutical company, Sanofi Pasteur.
It was licensed and approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the country.
The Department of Health (DOH) reported that 733,713 children from three regions in Luzon and some parts of Visayas have been vaccinated with Dengvaxia under the agency’s school-based immunization program launched in April 2016.
The DOH has suspended the dengue vaccination program after Sanofi Pasteur disclosed the vaccine was safe for those with previous exposure to dengue but complications could develop for those who did not have dengue fever yet. (PNA)
