The Department of Health (DOH) welcomes the Senate approval of the P1.16-billion supplemental budget to assist children vaccinated with Dengvaxia.
The budget represents the amount refunded by Sanofi Pasteur to the DOH for the unused Dengvaxia vaccines that were returned.
After having been approved by both chambers of Congress, the said bill is now up for the President’s approval and automatically becomes a law 15 days after publication in the major broadsheets.
The use of the said fund is broken down into the following: 81% will be for medical assistance program of dengvaxia-vaccinees, 13% will be for public health management, and 6% for human resource for health development.
“Majority of the budget or some PHP945.8 million will be allocated for the medical assistance program for Dengvaxia recipients seeking treatment, either confined at a hospital or outpatient. Additionally, PHP148.3 million will be spent on the assessment and monitoring of Dengvaxia recipients and for supplies and medicines; and PHP67.6 million will be used in the deployment of health workers, who will follow up on complaints of the vaccine recipients,” Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III explained.
“We are very pleased with the recent approval by the Senate of the DOH budget proposal which will certainly benefit, primarily the Dengvaxia-vaccinated children including their respective families. We deeply commend our Honorable Senators for this development,” the health chief concluded.