Dengvaxia scare affects Zamboanga immunization program

Local health officials here assured the public, especially the parents, that the vaccines they use in all the immunization programs are safe. (PNA photo)

ZAMBOANGA CITY –Local health officials here assured the public, especially the parents, that the vaccines they use in all the immunization programs are safe.

Dr. Dulce Amor Dagalea-Miravite, OIC city health officer, made the assurance as several parents are hesitant to allow their children to participate in any immunization program due to the Dengvaxia scare.

This, as a number of children from the Luzon area were reported to have died due to the bad side effects of Dengvaxia vaccine.

“The vaccines that we used are tried and tested. Hopefully, they will not be carried away by the Dengvaxia scare,” Miravite told the Philippine News Agency.

Dr. Joshua Brillantes, DOH assistant regional director, disclosed earlier that 60 percent of the parents of the public school children population to be dewormed did not grant consent due to the Dengvaxia-scare.

Miravite said the immunization program is aimed to protect the children from disease.

Among the vaccine preventable diseases being used in the expanded program for immunization include: Polio, Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine; and, the five-in-one Pentavalent Vaccine, which protects the child from Dipteria, Pertusis, Tetanus, Hepa B, and HIB virus.

“What will happen if parents will not bring their children in the health centers for immunization, the children will not be protected and if there will be a case of measles, there will be immediate spread of the disease and if many will get the disease, the result will be an outbreak,” Miravite said.

She said they are monitoring all health centers to determine development in the immunization programs of the government.