Department of Health would launch a “massive” information campaign to boost the Filipinos’ confidence in getting COVID-19 vaccines, said Health Secretary Francisco Duque III on Monday.
“We will be engaging in a massive social marketing campaign so that our people, knowing that our previous very unfortunate experience with Dengvaxia, we have learned our lessons from that experience,” Duque said at a Senate hearing.
In December 2020, Iloilo Representative Janette Garin said Health Secretary Francisco Duque III contributed to the public’s loss of confidence in vaccines, which could affect the COVID-19 immunization program in the country.
Garin, a former health chief, alleged that Duque had not corrected the false impression that the Dengvaxia vaccine could be fatal, especially to children.
The controversial Dengvaxia was first given to children in the Philippines during Garin’s term as a DOH secretary. She said it was safe, and many countries worldwide are still using it.
Garin said that if the DOH would act on the COVID-19 vaccine the same way they did with Dengvaxia, Filipinos would not benefit from its protection and cure.
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DOH to launch ‘massive’ info drive on COVID-19 vaccines – Duque
In November 2017, the government halted the school-based dengue vaccination program after Sanofi Pasteur, the manufacturer of Dengvaxia, advised against giving the vaccine to individuals who had not acquired dengue as it could cause severe side effects in the long run.
Due to the Dengvaxia controversy, the public’s vaccine confidence dropped from 92% to 33%.
However, Duque insisted that vaccine confidence has “improved over time,” but he stressed that “more still needs to be done.”
Duque said the DOH is working with the Philippine Information Agency to make informative videos that would encourage Filipinos to get COVID-19 vaccines.
“I think transparency is also very, very important in all of this,” he said.
Meanwhile, Senate President Vicente Sotto III urged the DOH to use social media in its information drive.
“Right now in social media you’re being defeated by those presentations, where they are being vaccinated and they speak Chinese thereafter and all that stuff… daming comedy ang nangyayari,” the senator said.