‘The sky is falling’

Sanofi Pasteur the French Pharmaceutical company issued a statement to the effect that Filipino children who were administered with “Dengvaxia” an anti-dengue vaccine may be at risk of having severe Dengue based on current clinical studies. As a result different personalities and groups manifested different reactions or response to the medical bulletin. Unfortunately most of them remind me of the movie “Chicken Little” where the lead character went into a panic and ran around town screaming: “ The sky is falling – the sky is falling!!! ”

In similar fashion, we now have Senators, Congressmen and members of the “I Told You So” Brigade panicking people by calling for investigations, alarming the general public even before those directly affected and concerned were properly alerted and informed by health and school officials. Instead of sitting down with local representatives of the pharma company, we now have politicians pressing the “Panic the Public” button based on news clips or reporters update.

I am a parent of one of those estimated 700,000 students, who made a decision to willingly have my daughter Hannah vaccinated against Dengue. But unlike those in the public school system, we had to pay P3,400 per dose or P10,200 for the required triple dose. When we decided to do so, it was based on the fact that Dengue was prevalent and deadly. It was also because my wife had experienced what Dengue was like first hand. Our decision was based on the presumption of regularity and best knowledge. Now comes new information that the product promise may be the complete opposite based on additional studies.

I am writing this article in reaction to the useless and panic inducing statements of politicians and anti-vaccine proponents whose Chicken Little behavior are not helping the ill informed but merely promoting themselves.

When the company Sanofi came out with the medical alert or statement, they did so in the interest of transparency, full disclosure and accountability. Any one intelligent enough about corporate communications will tell you that in such matters, it is always best if the public hears your version or your statement from you rather than learning about it from others especially from biased or critical sources.

There is also nothing new or shocking about Sanofi making an immediate or unexpected disclosure because they are governed by corporate and government regulatory laws that have been fully enforced on numerous occasions abroad and the penalties makes it costly and idiotic for any company not to disclose such serious concerns immediately.

While Sanofi has been compliant and rational in its disclosure, it is regrettable that the only thing the local media has focused on are statements of the “I told you so” brigade who were opposed to the vaccinations on differing grounds. In hindsight, they are now proven “right,” but why in the first place did they not convince government or Congress to stop the drug from being used?  They failed because they fought their battle in the field of politics and press release or media interviews, instead of science and professionalism. Some had agendas in government, others were promoting their lifestyle beliefs and as a result the real arguments against the dengue vaccine got polluted or diluted. Unfortunately even the politicians who were indifferent then are now charging into the fray like righteous warriors. Some one should hand them each a sash with the motto: “So Ignorant yet So Arrogant.”

Just to put matters into perspective, we should first determine what went wrong? Go ask your pediatrician or Google about the history of vaccines and you will learn that vaccines are not the cure all silver bullets we assume them to be. Hannah was vaccinated for chicken pox but when the pox hit her school she still had a mild reaction and showed three small spots. Those who were not vaccinated on the other hand were covered and scarred badly. About two years ago I wrote about my caretakers grand daughter who was vaccinated in school for the usual stuff along with her schoolmates. But she was the only one who had a real Adverse Reaction that resulted in paralysis that put her on a ventilator for more than a year. She recovered partly and we are still fighting for her with the help of the DOH and the DepEd.

Whether it’s humans or animals, I know from experience that there will always be hits and misses from vaccines. Yes the initial findings about Dengvaxia is alarming if not bad in comparison, but fear, worry or panicking recipients and parents simply adds fuel to the fire and no amount of debate or fault finding is going to protect our children or give parents peace of mind. What we all need to do is to come up with a program, a plan and the needed provision to meet the threat whether it is Dengue or the unexpected effect of Dengvaxia.

Dengue remains the ultimate enemy for all. With or without Dengvaxia, Dengue will harm or kill Filipinos. What we need to do is declare an all-out war against Dengue carrying mosquitoes with the same intensity that President Duterte stages war against drug lords and protectors. We need to do an Oplan Tokhang on suspected dengue breeding grounds, impose a house to house, company by company cleanliness campaign and set up a National Dengue Monitoring office that gives out via the internet up to date incidence reports of Dengue. Personally, I’ve placed 6 mosquito zappers or insect electrocuting devices in our house and whenever the need arises we also fumigate critical areas.

Pharma companies like Sanofi are insured for product related problems and should be encouraged to set up a trust fund as well as emergency medical assistance program for any an all cases of possible dengue affect those who were vaccinated with their product. We need Sanofi to be a present and active partner to watch out and be responsible for any ill effects resulting from their anti-dengue vaccine. We need to work together and not blame each other.

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