Philippine medical experts called for an end to the spread of false and malicious information on the Dengvaxia vaccine in a recent multi-stakeholder forum hosted in Pasay City by the Philippine Foundation for Vaccination at the SMX Convention.
Dr. Charles Yu, past president of the Philippine College of Physicians, who admitted to having his own child vaccinated with Dengvaxia, expressed alarm over the unnecessary panic and hysteria felt by parents like him caused by wrong reports and erroneous claims on the dengue vaccine.
“The stress from daily barrages from media causes stress on Dengvaxia parents like me. Do not listen to those who aren’t experts. They’re already being debunked by world experts, yet you still listen,” Yu said.
He was referring to the recommendation of the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization on the dengue vaccine released this April to the World Health Organization, which confirmed the “public health value” of the vaccine, where the over-all population benefit of the vaccination is seen as favorable.
Meanwhile, Dr. Edsel Salvana, an infectious diseases expert and an Outstanding Young Scientist 2010 awardee, clarified significant points of the report.
“Dengvaxia vaccine efficacy is confirmed in seropositives. In other words, it is safe and effective when used properly in those with previous dengue infection. The risk in seronegatives is 0.2 percent or two out of 1000,” Salvania said.
“It is the same level of risk on those people who had dengue, but had not been vaccinated for severe dengue, which is 4.8 out of 1000,” he added.
The report also affirmed vaccination without screening in hyper-endemic settings, such as the Philippines, which means vaccination without pre-screening is permissible in countries with high cases of dengue. Jun David
“Enough is enough. We’re not just damaging the country, the rest of the world is being damaged because others who have heard about our situation don’t want to be vaccinated too. It is time to stop and is time to regain our trust in vaccines,” Yu emphasized.
The WHO SAGE report, which can be accessed at the WHO website also did not include statements about viscerotropism and neurotropism which were earlier mentioned by Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) forensic experts as causes of deaths of children previously vaccinated.
Salvana said he is not in any way connected to any pharmaceutical company and only hopes to objectively assess the facts to help people understand the science behind this incident which is causing confusion in the country.