Philippines prepares for 'worst-case scenario' in anti-dengue vaccine controversy

  MANILA - The Philippines is prepared for a "worst-case scenario" after a pharmaceutical company announced that an anti-dengue vaccine administered to more than 700,000 Filipino children could worsen the disease in some cases. The Philippine government suspended its dengue immunization program for public school students shortly after French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi Pasteur announced Dengvaxia's possible risks. Department of Health spokesman Eric Tayag said on Saturday that the country has already taken precautions against potential mishaps when it became the first country to use the landmark vaccine in 2016. On the same year, the Department of Health procured P3 billion worth of Dengvaxia intended for 1 million public school children in areas reported to have the highest incidence of dengue. However, Sanofi Pasteur revealed earlier this week that Dengvaxia should not be recommended to people who have never been infected with dengue as it could trigger more severe symptoms about five years after vaccination. More than 733,000 children have already received Dengvaxia, raising fears that many could develop the harsher form of the disease. “The Department of Health is prepared for a worst-case scenario,” Tayag told ABS-CBN television, a day after the agency announced it was suspending its mass vaccination programme. Tayag said the government had been careful to only implement the scheme in areas where dengue was already widespread and had only given it to children aged nine or older. “They are being followed up for adverse effects following immunisation,” he said, adding that there were no reported cases of worsened infection among those who received the vaccine. Meanwhile, senators on Saturday said that health officials who signed a multibillion-peso deal to buy the anti-dengue vaccine for public school students should be held liable. "We should hold the appropriate Department of Health officials responsible for haphazardly allowing the vaccine to be administered to students, without extensive due diligence on the effects of the drugs and without waiting for the results of comprehensive clinical trial," Senator Joel Villanueva said in a statement. "Sanofi should also be made accountable for their haphazard release of the drugs without complete and proper clinical studies," Villanueva said. Senator Richard Gordon, who called for a Senate probe on the procurement of the vaccines last year, said Sanofi's admission of Dengvaxia's risks proves that the vaccine procurement under the administration of then-president Benigno Aquino III was a "midnight deal." "When the Aquino administration procured it and the DOH proceeded to inoculate 280,000 children initially, the vaccine was not yet ready for distribution. Now we have the evidence on that," Gordon said in a statement. "Before we conducted an investigation on the anomalous procurement of this vaccine, we talked to several health experts and they told us that they had already warned government long before about the possible adverse effect of the new drug on individuals with no prior history of dengue," he said. 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