MANILA – – Budget and Management Secretary Benjamin Diokno said the agency, along with officials of the Department of Health (DOH), will request for a supplemental budget for the Assistance to Dengvaxia vaccinees program after Zuellig Pharma refunded PHP1.16 billion of unused vaccines.
In a briefing Wednesday, Diokno said the refund was made sometime last February and the fund is now with the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr).
For DBM and DOH to use the said funds, these agencies need to request the House of Representative’s Committee on Appropriations for a supplemental budget for the assistance program for the about 870,000 dengaxia recipients.
The Budget and Management chief said the fund will cover the vaccine recipients’ hospitalization cost and outpatient health services if they need it.
It will also be used for the deployment of nurse health education and promotion officers and the distribution of medical kits to those vaccinated with Dengvaxia, he said.
Diokno added that the Department of Education (DepEd) has been tapped to check the identity of the students who were immunized with the vaccines.
The vaccine was given in 2016 to public school students aged nine and older and are from the National Capital Region (NCR) and Regions 3, 4-A, and 7 – – areas where dengue cases are high.
The Philippines is the first country to use the vaccine, produced by France-headquartered pharmaceutical giant Sanofi. (Joann Villanueva/PNA)
