As the country observes the Dengue Awareness Month this June, Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada has ordered recently the immunization of more than 12,000 elementary students against the deadly dengue virus within the month.
Estrada tasked the Manila Health Department (MHD) to start the school-based immunization on Tuesday, June 13, in line with the dengue prevention program of the Department of Health.
“Dengue is not something to be taken for granted because it’s a constant major threat to the health of our schoolchildren. We want them protected from this deadly virus,” Estrada said.
Citing data from DoH, the Manila mayor reminded that dengue infections are usually on the rise at the onset of rainy season, thus the need for intensified anti-dengue campaign.
June was declared Dengue Awareness Month by Proclamation No. 1204 signed in April 1998 by then President Fidel Ramos.
The MHD said the dengue immunization of 12,905 Grade 6 students from the city’s 73 elementary schools will be conducted from June 13 to 28.
This is the same batch of students who took their first dose of dengue vaccine back in April 2015 and again in October 2016.
The vaccine is given in three doses, MHD Maternal and Childcare Unit chief Concepcion Yusop said.
“Since being given the vaccine shots two years ago, these children have not contracted dengue or exhibited negative reactions, so I would say the vaccine is effective,” Yusop pointed out.
Based on clinical studies conducted in countries across Southeast Asia and Latin America, DoH said the vaccine has shown to be effective in preventing severe dengue by 93.2 percent.
Yusop said the anti-dengue vaccine is effective up to 10 years after which the students will be given booster shots.
From January to May 2017, only 378 dengue cases in Manila have been reported so far. In 2016, there were a total of 1,811 infections, compared to 2,445 in 2015; 1,652 in 2014; and 1,757 in 2013, according to records from MHD. Sandy Araneta
According to DOH’s National Epidemiology Centre, there have been 26,433 cases of dengue nationwide since the beginning of the year. This compares with 41,170 cases during the same period in 2016, a decrease of 35.8 percent.
Last year, Estrada provided P10 million in additional funds to each of the six city-run hospitals in Manila to beef up their response capabilities to dengue and Zika infections.
This in on top of the P600 million he poured in to renovate and re-equip the city hospitals to be able to provide free, prompt, and quality health care to Manileños.