Las Piñas City Mayor Imelda Aguilar has ordered the city health office and the city school administration to strictly monitor children inoculated with the anti-dengue vaccine Dengvaxia.
She said the monitoring is intended to come up with the city’s own database on the recipients of the vaccine which can serve as the basis for coordination with the efforts conducted by the Department of Health.
The mayor said 48,996 children in Las Piñas had received Dengvaxia since the DoH launched the mass vaccination program in 2016.
Aguilar said 7,215 children were vaccinated in schools while 41,781 children were vaccinated in barangay health centers.
“This is to ensure the parents and the community that city government is doing its best to address the possibility of adverse effects of the dengue vaccine so that proper intervention can be undertaken,” Aguilar said.
Aguilar appealed for calm after manufacturer Sanofi Pasteur revealed the vaccine may cause severe disease in those not previously infected by dengue.
She urged residents to reach out to their barangay health workers as well as the City Health Office at the city hall compound if their children contracted dengue after receiving the vaccine.
