Filipino pediatricians urge vax vs dengue as important

BAGUIO CITY (December 2, 2024) -- The Philippine Pediatric Society (PDS) profusely urged

Children and adults should get vaccines against dengue when the vaccinations become available, to curb further infections around the country.

Dr. Nina Gloriani, a specialist on Medical Microbiology and Immunology in a presentation here Monday, cited the alarming situation where the Philippines has the highest cases of dengue and dengue-related deaths in the whole of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). She said that from January 2023 to January 2024, the country has 195,603 while Vietnam has 166, 619 and Thailand has 139, 719.

Gloriani, former Dean of the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Public Health and also the former Chair of the Department of Science and Technology Vaccine Expert Panel for COVID-19 disclosed that as of November 16, 2024, the country has already logged 340,860 confirmed cases and cases under investigation.  That is an 81 percent increase compared to 2023, she noted, further citing that there are already 881 dengue-related deaths.

While PDS Northern Luzon head Dr. Amelen Palanca also cited that dengue is one of the highest killer disease in the world, ranked 5th.   She said that the matter should be dealt with utmost seriousness.  "We in the PDS are partnering with the government in initiating measures in the war against dengue.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that in 2023, there are 5 million cases worldwide with more than 5000 cases over 30 cases.

Dr. Gloriani further said, with the war against the deadly disease, it is best that the country will embrace the latest generation of the dengue-vaccine.  She said that several countries have implemented dengue immunization as part of their public health program like Brazil and Argentina in Latin America and Indonesia in Southeast Asia.

There are two generations of anti-dengue vaccines in the world, Dr. Gloriani added.  The first is the Live Attenuated Vaccine with Yellow Fever Virus as backbone which was previously licensed in the Philippines but was no longer since 2019.  This vaccine is licensed in 29 countries including the US and Singapore.  The second generation is Live Attenuated Vaccine with dengue virus as backbone that is licensed in more than 40 countries in Europe, America and Asia.

Palanca though acknowledges that there are hesitations including physicians having doubts.  She said that like other kinds of vaccines for other kind of diseases, there are possible side-effects, “yet the main benefit which is to immunize the people against deadly diseases like dengue is the better option that nothing at all.”

Gloriani said, “we Filipinos do not want to be the number 1 country which has the highest cases.  We should let the children and adults be immunized against the dengue once the vaccine is available."