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| Close-up of an Aedes aegypti mosquito feeding by Prof. Frank Hadley Collins, Center for Global Health and Infectious Disease is licensed under Public Domain. |
Theasianparent.com published an article that was clearly misleading- a boy died after being administered the dengue vaccine of Sanofi pharmaceutical named Dengvaxia. The boy who was suffering from a pre-existing heart condition (this has been ruled out as an exclusion criterion for the vaccine) died 12 days after being given the vaccine making it the source of the blame of the family. In actuality, the boy was first diagnosed with amoebiasis (dirty water alert parents) then was subsequently admitted due to pneumonia. Guessing with the gravity of his illnesses, the boy died from complications and of course, the family didn't want to blame themselves for neglect so, they are currently pointing fingers at the vaccine (smells like they want to be paid by the government) which is currently a hot topic here in the Philippines. Family of that little boy, you only have yourselves to blame, don't blame it on the vaccine. Irritates me when stupidity clouds judgement. And it irritates me more when someone tries to publish it as entertaining news. What theasianparent.com should be writing about is the statistics of dengue and the dengue problem in this country not, misleading news causing more ignorant people to become stupid.
The French Pharmaceutical giant recently released updated side effects regarding their dengue vaccine Dengvaxia saying that those who have not been previously infected with/by the dengue virus, the analysis found that in the longer term, more cases of the severe disease could occur following vaccination upon a subsequent dengue infection. In other words, if your child has NOT been infected by the dengue virus before, a severe infection could occur if exposed to the dengue virus. In all honesty, this country is plagued with mosquitoes. You go anywhere, and there is a mosquito that will bite you any time of the day. Also, this country is filthy. You go to the squatters area and you can see the canals filled with dirty, stagnant water that has the most unappealing smell. I bet you, most of the children in this country has been exposed to the dengue virus one way or the other. It might have passed as a mild sickness unlike the other children in the neighborhood or in school. You go to any general practitioner's clinic or pediatric clinic in the country, and the doctor will always assume that the child is sick with dengue and will force you to get laboratory tests to prove otherwise. Happened to my child. It was a waste of time because as it turns out, he had a lower respiratory illness. So for parents out there, most especially the poor ones, wag niyong kaagad sabihin na never na-infect yung anak niyo. Sa dami ng cases dito sa Pilipinas, baka na-expose na yung mga anak ninyo and you treated it as the flu.
Over 700,000 children were given the vaccination (since 2016) and out of the 700,000, only 362 showed adverse side effects. And if you want to go blaming the government officials, in all honesty, they had good intentions. Over 200,000 cases of dengue each year, thousands die from it. The hospitals are always full to capacity due to dengue; I've watched a doctor blame a mother for severity of the illness of her child because she was unable to breastfeed (men and breastfeeding- they don't have a clue ), I've seen kids sharing beds because the ward is full, I've seen children bleeding out because of the disease. We Filipinos just wanted to protect ourselves from the deadly virus. If blame is needed to be passed, we should be pointing fingers at Sanofi for the very belated update not at the Department of Health.
The vaccine according to the Department of Health has a 30- month protection period against dengue regardless if the child had a prior infection or not. But, due to the rather late update of Sanofi, the Department of Health is awaiting clarification. The chief of the Philippine Children's Medical Center says that for those who were infected prior to receiving the vaccine, there is a 93% reduction in severity of the disease and 82% reduction in hospitalization.
Statistics gathered this year from January 1 to July 1, reported dengue cases amounted to 43,770 (a considerable drop from over 60,000 of last year) and 250 deaths. The highest reported number of cases is from Central Visayas namely Cebu. Dengue seems to be a continuing struggle for the Philippines, and even if a 4S program is being promoted, the Filipinos seem to be so lazy when cleaning their environment.
What is the 4S program?
- Search and destroy mosquito breeding places (I guess that means to destroy the slums areas nationwide)
-Use self-protection measures (it is so hot in the Philippines, wearing long sleeves and socks up to where the sun doesn't shine will make me sweat)
-Seek early consultation for fevers lasting for more than 2 days ( Health centers- make sure that there are doctors present every day. Poor people won't shell out 300 pesos for consultation.)
-Say yes to fogging when there is an impending outbreak ( does the government really have to wait for an outbreak?!)
All that aside, Pinoys have not much concern with the cleanliness of their environment- they are only concerned with keeping themselves clean. They are also not concerned with pest control (go to the malls- you'll see roaches). Another problem is septic tanks and bathrooms, not all households have a bathroom nor a septic tank. Where the human waste goes, I'll leave that up to your imagination. Residential housing owners breeding livestock and poultry anywhere they can find a vacant patch of land. Canals with stagnant water. Dense slums areas. All these factors contribute to the problem of the breeding and spreading of the virus. It's really a problem.
Stop blaming the DOH, Pinoys and start cleaning up. Squatter people, instead of sitting around all day picking out the lice from your kid's hair, clean out the canals near your makeshift homes. Pinoys dispose of your trash properly- don't just throw it wherever you please. Don't postpone cleaning and clearing- do it every day. Ban all livestock and poultry in dense residential areas. Invest in pest control. And what is the Research Institute for Tropical Maladies doing? Go ahead and research. And to the Vice President, please don't be a typical Pinoy and think with your emotions and not with your head. Pinoys do love pointing the blame somewhere. SMH!
Brazil another country that is using the same vaccine for mass immunization for dengue has decided to continue with the program after seeing no severe cases attributable to Dengvaxia. I hope Sanofi can clarify their statement as soon as possible so we too may continue the combat from the Dengue virus and allay the fears of so many ignorant people out there.
I went home to the province and was quite impressed that there were no mosquitoes in the yard and that I could walk freely in shorts without the fear of being bitten. My father said he has the whole yard surrounded by siling labuyo (wild pepper) that wards off the mosquitoes. I'm following that advice- I'm growing sili everywhere.
-Bato-bato sa langit ang tamaan ay wag magagalit.
-Pinoy Inquisitor will search again.
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