The Provincial Health Office (PHO) will be seeking assistance from the Bohol Medical Society (BMS) to verify if private doctors administered the controversial anti-dengue vaccine, Dengvaxia to their patients.
This was bared by PHO chief Dr. Reymoses Cabagnot during the Capitol’s weekly “Kita ug ang Gobernador” program on Friday.
Coordination with the BMS will help PHO determine whether or not Boholanos have been vaccinated using Dengvaxia and if they have started to feel adverse effects due to the vaccine, he said.
Identifying people who have received Dengvaxia will allow health authorities to take action against the vaccine’s reported adverse effects, Cabagnot added.
The PHO official had previously noted that Bohol was not included among pilot areas for the government’s mass immunization program.
Supply of the vaccine was also not delivered to local health authorities.
Meanwhile, a recent report that surfaced indicated that a child in Talisay, Cebu who has been vaccinated with Dengvaxia landed in the hospital due to dengue.
The controversy on Dengvaxia erupted after its manufacturer, pharmaceutical giant Sanofi Pasteur, admitted in a disclosure that the vaccine could have harmful effects particularly to those without prior infection.
The disclosure has prompted the DOH to suspend its mass anti-dengue immunization program. (RT)