FOUR House leaders are upbeat about the prospects for the approval of the proposed P1.161-billion supplemental budget for children who got the Dengvaxia vaccine shot needing medical assistance.
“I believe this [budget] will be approved when we resume session today. I know the Senate did their best,” Citizens Battle Against Corruption Rep. Sherwin Tugna said.
Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo said “the supplemental budget is a very crucial aid to provide medical assistance to around 900,000 children vaccinated with Dengvaxia.”
Deputy Speaker and Batangas Rep. Raneo Abu said it is expected that Senate President Vicente Sotto III would not waste any time to initiate the approval of the supplemental budget during the resumption of session before President Rodrigo Duterte delivers his third State of the Nation Address.
“I trust the Senate leadership that it will prioritize the passage of the supplemental budget on the resumption of our session because we we need to provide medical assistance to the patients now,” he said.
Davao City Rep. Karlo Alexei Nograles, the measure’s principal author, called for the Senate’s approval.
“Every day that passes by is crucial for the families whose children were administered with the Dengvaxia vaccine, and our fellow lawmakers in the Senate know this,” he said.
He told the Department of Health to make use of its existing budget to begin the profiling and the monitoring of those who received the Dengvaxia vaccine.
With an overwhelming 231 votes, the House of Representatives, in June, passed on third and final reading the proposed P1.161-billion supplemental budget.
However, the Senate was not able to pass the supplemental budget.
Some 830,000 students were inoculated with the Dengvaxia vaccine under the Health department’s mass immunization program.
In November 2017, French giant pharmaceutical Sanofi Pasteur admitted, on its website, Dengvaxia risks.