EDITORIAL - Time to rethink Dengvaxia?

Aside from dealing with COVID-19, the cases of which are on the rise again, the Philippines also has to deal with another virus, the dengue virus.

The number of dengue cases is also on the rise nationwide. According to the Department of Health, the country logged 65,190 dengue cases from January 1 to July 2 this year, this is 83% higher than the figures for the same period last year.

Central Luzon, Central Visayas, and the Zamboanga Peninsula lead the regions with the most number of cases at 14%, 12%, and 9%, respectively.

We don’t want to deal with two viruses at once. It will be like fighting a war on two different fronts. Perhaps it is time to rethink using Dengvaxia, the vaccine against the dengue virus.

Dengvaxia is currently in use in countries like Brazil, Costa Rica, Mexico, Indonesia, El Salvador, Paraguay, Guatemala, Peru, Thailand, and even first-world countries like Singapore and the United States.

So why aren’t we using it here? It’s all because of that sorry episode during the term of former president Noynoy Aquino where the manufacturer of the vaccine was not so forthcoming on who could and could not take the virus during trials, an essential part of the development of any vaccine.

Deaths were unfairly attributed to the vaccine, the event would also be politicized by enemies of the administration and blown out of proportion --if not downright distorted-- by word of mouth by those we now call the Maritesses of society.

It was because of the Dengvaxia debacle that a hesitancy for all kinds of vaccines formed in the consciousness of many parents, leading to a return of polio in the country as well as well as the initial unwillingness of others to take the COVID-19 vaccines.

However, this doesn’t change the fact that many countries are still using Dengvaxia and apparently to no notable harmful effects among their populace. Dengvaxia itself is even on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines.

Perhaps it is time to rethink our hesitancy when it comes to Dengvaxia. We need all the help we can get against the enemies we cannot see.