dengvaxia, measles, DOH, HOR, PAO

in this election season, there is no middle ground — if you’re pro-duterte you blame pNoy and the DOH under garin for the dengvaxia scandal and the measles oubreak.  if you’re pro-pNoy you blame persida acosta and  the “thinking” trolls for scaring people away from all other vaccines, so now we have a measles outbreak.

the fact is, THEY ARE ALL TO BLAME.

the DOH in pNoy’s time who ignored the signs.

as early as september 2015, meron nang studies, malinaw na, na effective lang ang dengvaxia sa isang nagka-dengue na.

Walden Bello:  Measured by the yardstick of accepted statistical probabilities, Dengvaxia failed resoundingly, an event that is rigorously documented and explained in a research report that appeared in one of the leading journals of medical research, New England Journal of Medicine (Vol 373, No. 13, Sept 24, 2015), about half of whose authors were connected with Sanofi Pasteur.

The report, which appeared before the Sanofi contract was made and the vaccination program was implemented, revealed that clinical trials showed that previously uninfected children of a certain age group showed a disturbingly higher risk than previously infected children to contract severe dengue after being vaccinated.

surely some if not all the good doctors of the DOH did due diligent reading and knew of the risk to people na hindi pa nagkaka-dengue.  but it would seem na nangingibabaw ang optimisim — studies were still ongoing, and SANOFI was still pushing it as the breakthrough dengue vaccine, ibig sabihin ay may pag-asa pang maging para sa lahat ang dengvaxia, hindi lang sa mga nagka-dengue na?

besides,  as some DOH official probably opined, isn’t it like, you know, parang everyone’s had dengue already, at one time or another?  baka 10 percent na lang ang hindi pa nagkaka-dengue, and if only .02 percent of that is at real risk (“risko”, sabi ni pNoy sa kanyang STATEMENT) what is beneficial to the 90 percent should be the first consideration, or something like that.

my question always has been: saan based ang 10 percent figure na iyan?  based ba on documentation, may records ba ang health care centers and hospitals?  may master list ba of dengue cases over every year?  malamang wala, ano?  dahil in the next breath the DOH experts like to say na puwedeng you’ve already had dengue but don’t know it.  gumaling kasi agad.  pero puwedeng dengue iyon.  ano ito, based on anecdotal evidence or are their studies?

i can understand the rush to do something about the dengue problem before it gets worse, but from the start garin’s DOH should have limited inoculations to children na na-dengue na.  pag siguradong nagka-dengue na. bakunahan. pag hindi sigurado, hayaang ang magulang ang magpasiya.

di ko naiintindihan kung bakit hindi ganito ang ginawa.  masyadong hassle?  kakausapin pa isa-isa ang mga magulang?  maybe all they cared about was inoculating as many as possible, ang dami kasing dengvaxia na binili (the more you buy, the bigger the commission?)  at kailangang magamit lahat?  e hayan ang nangyari.

the DOH and the house of reps in digong’s time.  

ubial (who replaced garin)  stopped the dengvaxia program — tila 500,000 pa lang ang nabakunahan noon — but representatives gwen garcia of cebu and oscar garin (husband of DOH’s janet) of iloilo pushed for the expansion of the program, and ubial’s DOH folded.

itinigil lang ng DOH under duque ang dengvaxia program nang ang sanofi na mismo ang umamin categoricallly, finally, na delikado nga: at risk of acquiring severe dengue ang hindi pa nadedengue kapag naturukan ng dengvaxia.

last but not least, persida acosta, public attorney.

she sensationalized pa more what was already a disaster in the making.  of course parents whose kids died or got very sick unexpectedly some time after being injected with dengvaxia could not but wonder if the death or illness was dengvaxia-related, lalo na pag di pangkaraniwan ang sakit o ikinamatay.  but persida, precisely, should have been the voice of reason, counselling, and herself practising, patience and restraint while the cases were / are under investigation.  her hysterics didn’t help any.

if she had remained calm, cool, and collected, then perhaps the DOH might have not been put on the defensive and gotten caught up in congressional investigations.  then maybe they would have thought to anticipate  that other vaccination programs would be affected, kailangan ng damage-control, massive info campaigns on radio and tv, assure parents that the old vaccines are fine, make sure the kids get their shots.  house-to-house kung kailangan, kung puwede, para hindi na kailangang pumila.  if only to win back what trust there was, pre-dengvaxia, ASAP.