With the increasing number of dengue cases and fatalities recently, the Malacañang is now open to make dengvaxia vaccine available to the public again.
Since the Department of Health’s declaration of the national dengue alert, the palace is waiting for experts to declare if the vaccine is effective in alleviating the alarming number of dengue fever cases in the country.
Iloilo Representative and former Health Secretary Janette Garin asked the administration to revive the program, which can help prevent the outbreak in different provinces like Zamboanga Del Sur where, according to the DOH, an increase of more than 200% cases has broken out.
“If the weight of findings show that there is a benefit using Dengvaxia against dengue, then certainly the government should consider it,” presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a chance interview on Wednesday.
Though he added that the proposal will be thoroughly studied first, he asked for the help of experts to make sure that the return of the vaccine is safe.
Prior to the outbreak, the Duterte administration stopped a P3.5billion deal for the program after Sanofi released a study that the vaccine might have health risks for those who are yet to be infected by dengue.
