House Appropriations Chairman and Davao City Rep. Karlo “Ang Probinsyano” Nograles appealed to the Senate to expedite approval of a P1.161 billion supplemental budget for Dengvaxia victims, after the House of Representatives had approved the measure before Congress adjourned last June.
“Ang panawagan ko lang po, before mag-recess ang Congress sa Thursday sana naman po maipasa na ng Senado yung supplemental budget,” Nograles said.
“The Department of Health (DOH) has started patient check-ups and field work in communities where children were administered Dengvaxia vaccination, but we need the supplemental budget so that the DOH doesn’t need to tap other medical service funds not exclusively allocated for such purpose,” Nograles said.
Nograles further stressed that a supplemental Dengvaxia fund would ensure that families affected by the vaccine would be assured of proper medical care and attention.
The House of Representatives unanimously approved House Bill (HB) No. 7449 last May, a measure which allocated the P1.161 billion fund as medical assistance to Dengvaxia vaccine recipients.
An equivalent bill is under the period of interpellation at the Senate.
The supplemental fund represents partial reimbursement made to the Philippine government through the DOH by French pharmaceutical firm Sanofi Pasteur, makers of the controversial anti-dengue vaccine.
“We need the supplemental budget so that the DOH doesn’t need to tap other medical service funds not exclusively allocated for such purpose.”
“Nag-aalala lang po ako kasi kung itutuloy nila yung cash-based budgeting ng 2019, tandaan po natin P8.4 billion ang tinapyas mula sa Human Resource for Health Deployment ng DOH. Pag yan po ang nangyari, wala na pong maiiwan na mga nurses na idedeploy para sa biktima ng Dengvaxia,” Nograles said.
“Sa supplemental budget, naglaan po tayo ng pera dyan para mag-profiling po at puntahan ng mga DOH officials at nurses natin ang mga biktima ng Dengvaxia para kumustahin sila, gawan ng baseline study at medical profile. Importante pong maipasa yan para masimulan na po especially since dengue season po ngayon,” Nograles added.
Dengvaxia was used during the previous administration in a massive anti-dengue inoculation program in April 2016. However, after some 900,000 school children had already been vaccinated with Dengvaxia, Sanofi admitted in Novermber 2017 that the vaccine could actually worsen dengue symptoms in vaccinated children.
The P3 billion dengue inoculation program has since been suspended by President Rodrigo Duterte.
“We don’t want the DOH to overstretch its funding, that’s why we urge the Senate to consider the plight of close to a million schoolchildren who are affected by the Dengvaxia vaccine.”
Nograles noted that many of his fellow probinsyanos were among those who received the vaccine. According to the DOH, the immunization program was fully implemented in public elementary schools in Central Luzon and the Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon (Calabarzon) area.
The Davao City representative further noted that in a number of areas in Mindanao, “Dengvaxia was actually available and was being administered in private hospitals before the government’s mass vaccination program started.”
“We learned that 400 individuals were given dosages there and we are closely monitoring their health. The same should apply to all the school children who were given the vaccine.”
Nograles expressed fear that in the absence of the supplemental budget, the DOH may be forced to utilize a portion of its existing 2018 budget to assist Dengvaxia victims who continue to be hospitalized.
“We don’t want the DOH to overstretch its funding, that’s why we urge the Senate to consider the plight of close to a million schoolchildren who are affected by the Dengvaxia vaccine. This is a matter that affects the long-term health effects of young Filipinos. We should treat this as a national priority,” the lawmaker stressed.
