Free dengue vaccine for poor students in 3 regions - DOH

Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Janet Garin said that President Benigno Aquino III has approved the administration of dengue vaccine to poor students of government schools.

She added that these schools are located in areas with the highest incidents of dengue fever in the country.

In order to fund the program, Garin said the amount needed would be from part of the sale of the vaccine to private patients.

She added that the vaccine will be given to Grade 4 to Grade 5 students or children from nine to 10 years old, who are the usual victims of dengue, or a total of 1,077,623 children.

Most dengue cases were recorded in the National Capital Region, Region III, and Region IV-A.

Garin has announced that the dengue vaccine will enter the Philippine market next week.

"Philippines is the only country where three phases of the clinical trial were done... It's a reflection of how good our researchers are," Garin explained in a television interview.

Garin added that the government has already set P3 billion in the 2016 budget for the dengue vaccine.

She said the dengue vaccine is expensive because only one company is producing it, Sanofi Pasteur.

The Philippines was given a discount when the Department of Finance met with the company's executives  APEC Summit in November and an additional discount of 34 percent was given after Aquino met with another executive in France.

However, the dengue vaccine is only recommended for people who are between 9 and 45 years old because  safety has not been established if the vaccine is used on patients above 45 years old.

The Philippines has been spending P16 billion a year to combat dengue and the disease affects 220 Filipinos a day since 2011 to 2015. — Trisha Macas, BAP, GMA News