(Eagle News) — An unvaccinated child died of severe dengue on Tuesday, a Department of Health official said.
Assistant Secretary Eric Tayag made the announcement in a Twitter post, a day after the Senate blue ribbon and health committees resumed hearings on the Dengvaxia mess.
“I prayed hard so that a 7-year-old girl I visited in the hospital will recover from organ failure due to severe dengue…She died early today,” Tayag said.
The Dengvaxia snafu started days ago, when Sanofi, the drug manufacturer, admitted that “serious cases” could occur in those who were administered the vaccine but who have not had dengue beforehand.
In its defense, Sanofi said the new information came out only in recently concluded studies.
Over 800,000 children have been given the dengue vaccine under the government’s vaccination program that was launched in 2016, during the term of then-President Benigno Aquino III.
