Finally, after years of anticipating, another medical-breakthrough has happened in our country. The dengue vaccine will be available in the Philippine market next week, GMA News Online reports. The Department of Health Secretary, Janet Garin, explained in a television interview, that Philippines is the only country where three phases of the clinical trial were done. As quoted in the GMA article, Garin said: “it’s a reflection of how good our researchers are.” (I agree, thank you very much!)
It was reported that most of the dengue cases are from the NCR, Region 3, and Region 4-A.
In fact, the Philippines is the first country in Asia to approve the first dengue vaccine in the world.
The vaccine is called Dengvaxia and is manufactured by Sanofi.
However, since the vaccine is being manufactured by Sanofi Pasteur alone, a French pharmaceutical company, expect that the said vaccine is expensive. (Sanofi Pasteur has worked on this cure for 20 years and has spent 1.5 billion Euros on it.)
Fortunately, during the APEC week, the Department of Finance was able to meet the company’s executives and was given an initial discount. Furthermore, the proud DOH Secretary Garin also mentioned that another 34% discount was given to our country when President Benigno Aquino III met with another executive in France.
Additionally, the government has already set P3 billion in the 2016 budget for the dengue vaccine and will give it to children 9-10 years old since they are the usual patients of Dengue.
Is the Dengue Vaccine Recommended for Everyone?
The dengue vaccine is recommended for people who are 9 to 45 years old only. Health secretary Garin further explained in the article, that the safety has not been established to people beyond 45 years old. Hence, they would like to “play on the safe side.”
I say, this is beneficial for everyone, especially the people, who cannot afford hospitalization.
What can you about this news? Do you think this will lessen the dengue cases moving forward?
