Avoidable deaths, unnecessary expense

Even though cases of dengue have been occurring nationwide, it seems that reporting or talking about them is not a priority concern of government or the DOH. I speculate that while cases are reportedly already several thousands in many places, the deaths have not reached “alarming” or catastrophic numbers, which is why it’s not a serious concern.

Perhaps if a relative of a congressman or senator were to die because of dengue, then maybe the problem would get the proper attention or action it deserves. As far as I am concerned, dengue had already infected my wife Karen before COVID, and at least two helpers in our small farm already got dengue that nearly killed one of them. So for me, dengue should get more mention than political squabbles.

Last Friday, I picked up a story in the Nation news section of The Philippine STAR that five persons were recently killed by the dengue virus in Benguet province. If that’s not serious enough, the report filed by Artemio Dumlao stated “that (in one week alone), from July 21 to 27, the local health department of Benguet province (which includes Baguio City) has recorded 230 cases. The figure brought to 3,396 the total dengue cases posted in Benguet so far this year.”

Imagine that – 3,396 recorded dengue cases in one province in the highlands that we now know of, only because a persistent reporter found it important to inform the public. The question is why is the Department of Health no longer reporting or updating the public on the weekly or monthly cases of dengue, considering we are in the rainy season, which is when dengue carrying mosquitoes breed like crazy.

Is it possible that the number of cases all over the country could total 50,000 or more over the last seven months? It’s hard to tell if the government itself has either stopped recording cases or publishing or sharing the numbers to better inform and protect the public.

As usual, both local and national health officials “reiterated their appeal to residents of affected areas to help in fighting dengue by ridding their area of mosquito breeding sites.” In Metro Manila, the usual reaction is to declare fogging operations, etc. I picked up somewhere that DOH officials were also talking about a biological solution used in Singapore and Indonesia to breed sterile mosquitoes or predatory insects to wipe out dengue carriers.

I have watched several news features on the Singapore project but the whole thing is still in controlled environments inside a laboratory and not outdoors. With 7,000-plus islands that have lowland swamps to high mountains populated by highly mobile people, traders and transients, such proposals would be expensive, unsure and most likely ineffective in the Philippines.

All these ideas mean well and hope for the best, but when we recall all the mechanical and medical solutions that were tried out during the COVID pandemic, such as dewormers, respirators, Chinese herbal medicines, ionizers hung around the neck, UV lights, we eventually realized that the anti-COVID vaccines were the most effective in preventing the massive numbers of COVID-related deaths.

That solution in the form of an anti-dengue vaccine is still possible for the Philippines because research and development on vaccines of all kinds continue, including for dengue. Dengue vaccines are in use worldwide because dengue remains and has even shown up in continents and countries where it was never heard of before.

But in order to have such vaccines in the Philippines, government officials, policy makers, scientists, as well as the Executive department need to take out the disinformation, political over-sensitivity or paranoia and stigma out of vaccines of all types and judge them based on data, research and observable claims and efficacy.

In his latest State of the Nation Address, President Bongbong Marcos announced that a vaccine for the African swine fever has already been field tested in the Philippines and will soon be available, perhaps before the end of the year. This was a welcome announcement among hog raisers who have lost hundreds of millions of pesos due to ASF and reduction of operations due to possible reinfection of herds.

What’s important about PBBM’s announcement is that it proves that the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Agriculture and the private sector can find solutions and get things done through established scientific processes when politics is not included in the concerns. One of the things that helped speed up the field testing of the ASF vaccine was the focus on determining what vaccine worked well and reducing the chatter and letting the scientists do their work.

During the COVID pandemic, the FDA managed to overcome obstacles and challenges by applying the “Compassionate Use” clause for vaccines and medicines for COVID treatment. Recently, Malacañang has reportedly followed private sector recommendations to reduce the screening process for medicines that would be included in the Philippine National Drug Formulary. The direction seems to be to fast track and streamline the work of screening food and drugs directly under the FDA.

Based on many interviews with DOH, FDA and medical associations in the past, that shift should be supported by more funding and a major increase in the human resource of the FDA, especially with scientists and technical experts as well as implied or expressed support for FDA determinations and decisions. The FDA has been continuously criticized for taking too long to do their work and that is because they do not have the needed manpower and resources.

Ultimately, the FDA must fulfill its most fundamental duty to roll out the needed vaccines and medicines to all Filipinos.

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