Duque says scientific proof, budget impact prompted DOH to seek review of vaccine program

Budget concerns and recent evidence from health experts were considered in the Department of Health's decision to seek a review of the government's pneumococcal vaccination program.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque said the review was being conducted by the Health Technology Assessment Council (HTAC), which is mandated to review existing health programs and benefits of the DOH and the Philippine Health Insurance in the next two years.

"The DOH... requested the HTAC to review the NIP in particular the Pneumococcal Vaccination Program in light of scientific evidence and the significant budget impact of this particular vaccine to the Department," he said.

Procurement of any  pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) is currently on hold, while the DOH awaits the HTAC to complete its assessment.

Duque, however, clarified that while procurement is being held off, the government continues to use PCV13 as part of the routine immunization and assures the public that stocks of the said vaccine are ample.

“While we want our Filipino children to be protected against any pneumococcal disease, we also want to ensure them of the highest quality of our vaccines,” he said.

In 2017, the World Health Organization conducted a systematic literature review and found no evidence showing a difference in the net impact on overall disease
burden between PCV13 and PCV10.

In February 2019, WHO reaffirmed this earlier position saying that the two available PCVs are equally effective in preventing overall pneumococcal diseases in children.

The DOH noted that the WHO’s assessment of the two vaccines is echoed by health advocates and other global health experts such as the Pan-American Health Organization and International Vaccine Access Center.

Former Bulacan governor and current chairman of the Medicines Transparency Alliance (MeTA) Obet Pagdanganan earlier expressed his support for the DOH move to suspend the procurement of PCVs until the HTAC review is completed.

"We have advocated for the HTA process under the Universal Health Care law to ensure evidenced-based interventions. We just hope that the process will not take long enough to complete so as not to hinder the continuous provision for this important vaccine," Paula Tanquieng of advocacy group Ayus na Gamot sa Abot Kayang Presyo (AGAP) Coalition, meanwhile, said.

For her part, Dr. Lulu Bravo, Executive Director of the Philippine Foundation for Vaccination (PFV), stressed that saying that one vaccine is weaker than the other is
misleading and contributes only to misinformation.

“The people need to rely on what independent global experts say because it is our responsibility, as pediatricians, to be updated with the most relevant, and most updated information,” Bravo said.

“Our basis should be the global health experts, such as the World Health Organization who, in a more recent study, stated that PCV13 and PCV10 are comparable in performance and impact,” she added.

In February, professor Ron Dagan, board chairman of the International Symposia on Pneumococcus and Pneumococcal Diseases, said in a forum held in Manila, said PCV13 is “clearly superior” to the PCV10, because the former covers more pneumococcal serotypes or strains, including the invasive and virulent 19A serotype.

Pneumonia claims over 50,000 lives in the Philippines every year, making it the third most deadly disease in the country. — Julia Mari Ornedo/MDM, GMA News