Health department returning unused dengue vaccines to Sanofi Pasteur

January 16, 2018

The Philippine health department said it is returning unused dengue vaccines manufactured by Sanofi Pasteur before it could be refunded.

In a hasty press conference Tuesday, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said Tuesday the deadline for retrieving the unused vaccines in Luzon has been set at the end of the week.

"It was agreed with Sanofi that reimbursement will be in about 1 to 2 days after retrieval," said Duque.

Duque said there will be four designated pick up points for unused Dengavaxia vaccines: the health department's regional offices in Central Luzon and Calabarzon, the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), and Philippine Children's Medical Center (PCMC).

Duque said vaccines in Cebu may be retrieved at the health department's regional office with Monday next week being the latest date.

Duque said 1,187,815 doses of Dengvaxia, which is equivalent to P1,187,815,000, has been accounted for.

"There is an ongoing inventory in some local government units," Duque said.

Sanofi had said it has agreed to refund the Department of Health  P1.4 billion..

In November, the health department suspended school-based dengue immunization program in the National Capital Region, Calabarzon, and Central Luzon after Sanofi disclosed its new analysis on Dengvaxia.

The new findings say there is a threat of severe dengue to those given the vaccine but who were not exposed to the dengue virus. DMS