Understanding The Dengvaxia Incident And Why COVID-19 Vaccinations Must Go On

Nope, it's Dr. Flordeliza Fernandez Grana, not Leni Loud Robredo

There are still some people hesitant to get the COVID-19 jab, right? One such incident was the Dengvaxia incident happened. Unfortunately, reading comprehension is REALLY LOW in the Philippines. People just comment and comment away - that's why I don't bother feeding the trolls like Benign0 does in his site, Get Real Philippines, which he seems to enjoy feeding trolls thus shrinking his credibility. Besides, I'm just going to continue marking stupid comments as spam because it's a waste of time replying to them or risk having a warzone like Benign0's site. 

Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor. This is another common sense post sharing some medical information based on some research. Please do some research before you react. I simply share some information for my posts. 

It would be best to do a review on the Dengvaxia incident on what REALLY HAPPENED 

I remembered some time ago when Atty. Persida R. Acosta of the Public Attorney's Office did the investigation of the Dengvaxia incident. Acosta went as far as to invite Dr. Scott Halstead to speak over during the investigations. Halstead is a dengue expert who was called upon to speak concerning the incident. 

Some time ago, GMA News did present the words of Halstead which I will repost in this post for better reading:

Halstead said that for any child who receives Dengvaxia doses and later dies, two things have to be considered before concluding that the two are connected: 

• unequivocal evidence that the infection was caused by dengue virus, which can be done by either virus isolation or identification of NS1; and
• knowing if the particular individual was given the vaccine when he or she was seronegative or seropositive.

In short, it's possible that not all those who were injected with Dengvaxia died because of the same vaccine. He also stated that the vaccine is effective only for seropositive people. 

He maintained that Dengvaxia is effective in protecting people who are seropositive or have had prior dengue immunity, but not effective in preventing disease in people who are seronegative at the time they were vaccinated.

Halstead earlier said that a test to determine if a person is seronegative or seropositive should have been done first before Dengvaxia was administered.

"We don’t want people to feel that vaccines are dangerous," he said.

"I’ve been a pro-vaccination all my life. We do not want vaccines to be injured by this. The children who are at risk now, I hope we dedicate to getting these children to clinical care early. Parents come in early and physicians know how to handle them."

Here are other words that I chose to repost here from CNN Philippines regarding Halstead's words about Dengvaxia:

Dr. Scott Halstead, a physician who has studied vaccines since 1957, faced the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee for the first time on Tuesday to share his expertise on dengue vaccines for the investigation into the controversial Dengvaxia.

Committee Chairperson Senator Richard Gordon asked Halstead if the implementation of the nationwide dengue immunization program during the Aquino administration, which put over 830,000 children at risk, was reckless.

The dengue expert replied, "I was quite astonished and quite upset the mass immunization was going forward," he said during the 7th Senate hearing into Dengvaxia.

He added, "If you've been vaccinated and you're hospitalized, something is very wrong - that's what I call serious adverse event."

Halstead said he tried to forewarn the Philippine government before the immunization program took place in April 2016, but the program still went on.

In a study published in medical journal "Vaccine" in March 2016, Halstead warned that Dengvaxia should not be administered to seronegative individuals or people who have not been infected with the dengue virus.

He said Sanofi Pasteur recognized his early warning in 2016 when it issued a printed rebuttal, saying Halstead's study lacked basis.

Sanofi's Asia Pacific head Thomas Triomphe was quick to defend the company saying it was already in March 2017 that Sanofi have found out about the risks of Dengvaxia.

"We only found out in 2017 when taking the advice of many people because we work with everybody" Triomphe said.

Halstead added the government should have first administered blood tests on the students before it carried out the mass vaccination program.

In short, the Dengvaxia incident was not a case of proving vaccines don't work. It's more of a case that the vaccine was meant to be administered ONLY to individuals who are seropositive or who had a previous infection with the dengue virus than those who didn't. Halstead was pro-vaccination all his life and did this investigation because approved vaccines CAN KILL if instructions aren't followed. It's like certain medications may have adverse side effects on certain people. It's like taking an aspirin on an empty stomach or to overdose it isn't advisable at all. Medicines have a proper dosage CAREFULLY prescribed for their effectiveness. You can't sue the pharmaceutical company if you neglected their instructions unlike if they gave you a drug that wasn't safe for usage at all. You can't sue the maker of the kitchen knife if you played with it like a toy and you hurt yourself. You can't sue the maker of toilet bowl cleaners if you placed too much cleaner on your toilet resulting in your suffocation. A medicine containing arsenic is different from an approved medicine administered wrongly. Dengvaxia shouldn't be antagonized neither should vaccines (in general) be antagonized. The only vaccines to antagonize are any vaccines that haven't passed through clinical trials and were released to the public without testing their safety or how to effectively administer them. Rather, it's all about the lack of discretion in carrying out the vaccination and ignoring the advice of the manufacturers. 

Acosta herself eventually clarified her stand on vaccines that she's not an anti-vaxxer. Acosta is NOT to blame for the rise of measles. Instructions regarding Dengvaxia's administration should've been followed. If instructions were followed then the Dengvaxia drive would've been a success. Unfortunately, LOW READING COMPREHENSION also led to the scare against vaccines in general without understanding the incident. The readers should've bothered to read through the Dengvaxia fiasco first before concluding it's the fault of vaccines. People should've read through everything about Dengvaxia before jumping to conclusions. 

Here's what we need to know about vaccinations and why COVID-19 vaccinations are necessary for eligible people 

Meanwhile, we need to understand how vaccines work and the history of vaccination. Edward Jenner was the man who coined the word vaccination from "vacca" or cow. Cowpox was used to combat the smallpox pandemic during the time of Jenner. One of Jenner's children died of tuberculosis which was a totally UNRELATED disease since there were no vaccines against the disease at that time. Louis Pasteur, a French microbiologist, would be known for starting the attenuated vaccine technology which evolved over time. The attenuated vaccine means using a weakened germ to let the body identify the threat. Pasteur's experiments started with chicken and sheep. Eventually, Pasteur proceeded with the anti-rabies shot when Joseph Meister was bitten by a rabid wolf. These two men are very important in the history of vaccination. In short, vaccination helped curb down several pandemics such as the Spanish flu, measles, mumps, rubella, and polio.

The COVID-19 vaccination process is also one that requires utter caution. The Dengvaxia fiasco has NOTHING to do with the vaccine but not following instructions. Currently, Pfizer seems to be the most used vaccine brand while we have Sinovac, Moderna, and AstraZeneca. These companies have released their precautions on vaccination. People who administer the vaccine should take extra caution to make sure that these precautions are followed to the letter. After all, those who formulate the vaccines know the risks in the life-saving procedure. 

A good example is how Pfizer has this official word on who should NOT take the vaccine:

Who should not take the vaccine?

People with a history of severe allergic reaction to any component of the vaccine should not take it.

There are currently no efficacy or safety data for children below the age of 12 years. Until such data are available, individuals below 12 years of age should not be routinely vaccinated.

Is this vaccine recommended for adolescents?

A Phase 3 trial in children aged 12-15 years showed high efficacy and good safety in this age group, leading to an extension of the previous age indication from 16 years onwards down to age 12 onwards.

Evidence suggests that adolescents, particularly older adolescents, are as likely to transmit SARS-CoV-2 as adults. WHO recommends that countries should consider using the vaccine in children aged 12 to 15 only when high vaccine coverage with 2 doses has been achieved in the high priority groups as identified in the WHO Prioritization Roadmap. 

Children 12-15 years of age with comorbidities that put them at significantly higher risk of serious COVID-19 disease, alongside other high-risk groups, may be offered vaccination. 

The fact that the vaccines weren't meant yet for children (for a time) meant that even fully vaccinated people were to still play extra caution. It's because some of them have children at home or they could infect children who aren't yet eligible for vaccination. It's pretty much like the warning that Sanofi attached - they must be heeded to prevent vaccination fiascos. Vaccinated people are to do their part as recommended such as not drinking too much caffeine and alcohol, as well as not overexerting themselves for a week or two as recommended. Fortunately, Pfizer now has the authorization to use COVID-19 vaccines on children. That's what it would mean to have a careful implementation - not to do a mass vaccination without identifying the various groups first. Successful vaccination depends on careful scientific procedures and following simple guidelines. 

Some vaccine manufacturers posed a warning that their vaccines weren't meant for certain age groups such as people below 30. These vaccination guidelines need to be taken seriously if you don't want to repeat the Dengvaxia incident. If the manufacturer says that certain people shouldn't be vaccinated (such as the immunocompromised) then don't. It would be necessary to follow these guidelines if you expect a successful COVID-19 vaccination program. Get a vaccine if you're eligible and don't if you're not.