DOH to spend P3,000 per child on dengue vaccine

MANILA, Philippines - Over a million public school students will be selected to have three doses of dengue vaccines worth P3,000, the Department of Health (DOH) said.

Health Secretary Janette Garin said the DOH is spending a total of P3.5 billion for the vaccination program for public school students in areas with high incidence of the potentially fatal disease.

“Vaccines are really expensive, but the government is getting it at a discounted price,” Garin said in a recent forum.

The first dose of the dengue vaccine will be given in March, the second dose in September, and the last in March 2017.

The DOH earlier reported that nine-year-old children enrolled in government schools in the National Capital Region, Central Luzon, and Calabarzon are the initial beneficiaries of the free dengue vaccine.

Garin said the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. is also looking at the possibility of covering the dengue vaccines for its members, but this could take three years to be implemented.