The Senate has taken notice of the increasing public alarm generated by the ongoing controversy surrounding the efficacy of the anti-dengue vaccine, Dengvaxia, which had been administered to several hundred thousand public elementary school pupils.
Several recent deaths have been allegedly attributed to side effects in connection with Dengvaxia inoculation, though these have not, so far, been favored with scientific validation.
With each salvo of what some politicians have described as a publicity circus, and the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) involvement in the conduct of forensic examinations and public pronouncements regarding the possible link of the children’s deaths to the vaccine, the level of public alarm has correspondingly approached fever pitch.
A group of mothers whose children had been inoculated with Dengvaxia stirred up a commotion at the Senate iinquiry Monday, almost descending like an unruly mob on former health secretary Janette Garin, under whose watch the school-based mass vaccination program was launched in 2016.
Garin told journalists at the resumption of the inquiry on Tuesday: “It is with a heavy heart that I see some victims again being victimized by groups I do not know,” alluding to what she suspected to be an apparent stab at a publicity stunt. “Kitang-kita natin na masyadong (It’s quite obvious this was) staged.”
Senator JV Ejercito said he understands the concern and apprehensions of the parents, he being the parent of a child who had received Dengvaxia. “Everytime we watch the news, being a parent, baka atakihin na ako sa puso (I’d probably suffer a heart attack). Is there really a need to panic? Almost all the deaths are being attributed to Dengvaxia.”
A University of the Philippines expert panel declared that there is no ground or justification for panic, as the final result of the dengue investigative task force has not yet ben submitted and it has not been established conclusively that any of those deaths were cases of severe dengue fever possibly potentiated by the vaccine’s action.
The rash of negative publicity has prompted many parents to turn their backs on other forms of vaccination.
This is compounded by the series of autopsies conducted autonomously by the Public Attorney’s Office.
Senator Ejercito urged PAO to cooperate with the medical experts on the matter.
Dr. Gerardo Legaspi, Director of UP-Philippine General Hospital, told the legislative inquiry: “If you want to stop the hysteria, since you have the power, tell everyone to stop talking.”