Duterte open to use of Dengvaxia amid spike in dengue cases

President Rodrigo Duterte said on Thursday that he was open to making the controversial Dengvaxia vaccine available to the public anew as the country faced a dengue epidemic.

“I am open to the use of Dengvaxia again. Maraming patay na, it’s an epidemic,” the President told reporters in Malacañang.

However, Duterte said he wants to get expert opinion first before making a decision.

“I’m in a quandary whether to allow Dengvaxia or not,” Duterte said.

“I want to hear the words of the experts, doctors. And we have enough bright people here to tell us. I do not need foreigners to tell me, my own Filipino scientists and doctors would tell me what to do. I will be guided by their announcements," he added.

Duterte said he would rather “go on the side of science.”

“If nobody would believe me, still I would say that if there is anything there in the Western medicine and even itong herbal ng mga Oriental if it could mean saving people’s lives, I’ll go for it,” Duterte said.

Malacañang said reviving the use of the Dengvaxia vaccine to address the rising number dengue cases across the country needed to be done with the “utmost caution.”

Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo pointed to the opinion of the World Health Organization (WHO) and other medical experts that the vaccine should be given only to those who already had prior dengue experience.

He also said politics had to be set aside “when the health of the citizenry is in peril.”

Former Health Secretary and now Iloilo Representative Janette Garin has asked the government to lift the ban on Dengvaxia, claiming that the vaccine was intended to reduce dengue severity by 93 percent and hospitalization due to dengue by 80 percent.

Her call came as government data showed there had been 146,062 dengue cases nationwide from January 1 to July 20, up 98% from the same period last year.

The Department of Health on Tuesday declared a national dengue epidemic following the increasing number of dengue cases, including deaths, in the Philippines.

The Dengvaxia controversy started in November 2017 after its French manufacturer Sanofi Pasteur announced that the vaccine could lead to more severe symptoms of dengue for those who had never been infected by the virus prior to vaccination.

This prompted the DOH to halt its dengue immunization program.

Several criminal complaints were then filed by the Public Attorney's Office with the Department of Justice for deaths allegedly linked to Dengvaxia. —NB, GMA News