MANILA, Philippines – President Rodrigo Duterte urged Filipinos to have their children vaccinated, saying most vaccines are safe to use despite the Dengvaxia controversy.

“‘Yung Dengvaxia, simula nang nagkaroon ng gulo dito, maraming mga pamilya dito sa Pilipinas, hindi lang sa Malabon, na natakot dito sa vaccination at ayaw na,” said Duterte on Tuesday, January 29, at the groundbreaking of a new hospital in Malabon City.

(Starting with the controversy surrounding Dengvaxia, many families in the Philippines, not just in Malabon, got scared of vaccination and now don’t want it.)

“Do not be lulled and be complacent about it kasi ang sanggol talaga kailangan. ‘Yung Dengvaxia lang kung ayaw ‘nyo, okay lang,” he said.

(Do not be lulled and be complacent about it because the infant needs it. If you don’t like Dengvaxia, it’s okay.)

He described all other vaccines approved by the government for immunization programs as “good” and “for the health of the person, from when they are small until they grow up.”

Dengvaxia is a dengue vaccine which became infamous in the Philippines in 2017 after its creator, French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi Pasteur, announced the vaccine poses more risks to people who have not been infected by dengue before immunization.

The company was thus saying that Dengvaxia was not guaranteed to prevent dengue after all, and those who never had dengue were at risk of developing a more severe form if infected later on.

The scandal scared many Filipino parents from having their children vaccinated with even tried-and-tested vaccines, such as those for measles, polio, and tetanus.

A year after the controversy, the Department of Health said only 6 out of 10 children were getting their scheduled vaccinations. The agency spent much of 2018 trying to recover immunization numbers.

Duterte, on Tuesday, alluded to this consequence of the Dengvaxia scandal.

“It is alarming to government for people to shy away from vaccination for their children,” he said. – Rappler.com