The Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH-7) has already identified 19 children who were given the anti-dengue vaccine this year and became sick with dengue.
Dr. Jaime Bernadas, DOH-7 director, said 18 of the children were already fully recovered from their sickness while one remained confined in a hospital.
“Expectedly, we are still going to experience active dengue infection in our post-vaccination especially that they’ve (the children) only received the first dose (of the anti-dengue vaccine). But what’s important is that we’ve continued to monitor them (their condition) through our heightened surveillance of health centers and hospitals,” he said.
Bernadas said they started to intensify their monitoring of the vaccine recipients starting on December 1 to make sure that all those who get sick with dengue are given proper medical attention.
“Our SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) right now, (is that) all vaccinated patients (who get sick) with dengue are automatically enrolled in PhilHealth. They won’t pay anything, except if the patient is admitted in a private hospital, the parent has to pay some counterpart of the hospital bill,” Bernadas said.
DOH-7 gave a dose of the Dengvaxia vaccine to 161,624 Cebu public school children aged nine to 14-years-old during the months of June to August 2017. They were supposed to target 323,609 children in Cebu.
Bernadas said they already conducted profiling of around 80 to 90 percent of the 161,624 children who received the dengue vaccine.
He said that when they complete their profiling, they will immediately send health workers and DOH personnel to monitor the health condition of these children.
“It is important that their needs will be attended to with the help of (the) LGUs and private practitioners. If they manifest symptoms of the disease, early detection, check-up and interventions should be given to them,” Bernadas said.
Bernadas said he also asked private doctors and clinic operators to also furnish his office with a report on anti-dengue vaccines which they administer to children.
He said it would be easier for DOH-7 to document children who were given the vaccine in private clinics because private doctors keep an immunization record of their patients.
Meanwhile, Bernadas said, they almost completed the pullout of Dengvaxia vaccine vials that were given to city and municipal health offices.
As of December 21, 2017, Bernadas said, a total of 63,108 vials or around 95 percent of the total number of vials which they distributed early this year are now kept at the DOH-7 storage area.
“There are still Dengvaxia vials that we need to pull-out from four LGUs that were located in far flung areas,” he said.
Bernadas said collected vials will remain in their storage area while they wait for further instructions from their head office.