ILOILO CITY -- The supply of human anti-rabies vaccines at the Animal Bite Center of the City Health Office (CHO) here is very limited, such that a patient is only given one of the three to four required shots.
Dr. Maila Buyco, Medical Officer IV at the CHO, on Wednesday said vaccines available at the bite center can be counted using one’s fingers.
In the past years, they have plenty of vaccines to cover all the needed doses of patients.
The Department of Health (DOH) provided them with only 20 vials. So in order to serve more patients, they only give one dose.
“This is only until supplies last,” she said. After the first dose, the patient has to look for other clinic where the vaccine is available.
City Health Officer Bernard L. Caspe, in an interview, said his office has already requested for the acquisition of vaccines. He revealed that PHP2 million was allocated for the purchase.
He hoped the city government could find a supplier for the vaccines as he was informed that the vaccines produced by Sanofi was limited because of the issue on the Dengvaxia vaccine, which it also manufactures.
The vaccine being produced by GSK India was also stopped after its shipment to China was found to have been contaminated.
Sanofi and GSK are the only manufacturers of the anti-rabies vaccine for humans.
With the very limited supply of anti-rabies shots, Caspe is calling on everyone to become responsible pet owners.
The people are reminded of the city’s “Anti-Rabies Ordinance”, which specified that pet owners shall be the one to shoulder the cost of the anti-rabies vaccines. He said it was never implemented though.
Meantime, Dr. Buyco confirmed that Iloilo City has recorded one death due to human rabies this year.
She said the 42-year old victim was never treated at the city’s Animal Bite Center, instead, the patient was brought to the Western Visayas Medical Center (WVMC).
However, the patient was only brought to the hospital several days after being bitten by a rabid dog.
The last time Iloilo City recorded a positive human rabies was 10 years ago.
She advised that basically once a person is bitten by an animal, it is already considered as a “probable or possible rabies” and they don’t have to wait for the symptoms to manifest.
Immediately after being bitten by an animal, the victim has to be injected with the anti-rabies vaccine. Otherwise if the symptoms already manifest, then no amount of injection can save the person, she said.
“Rabies is virus and they mutate, so we can never tell how long the virus will travel and infect your brain,” she said. (PNA)
