Capitol mulls vaccination vs Japanese encephalitis

By John Noel E. Herrera

The Iloilo Provincial Government is eyeing to buy vaccines for the Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), noting that the province has already recorded 14 JEV cases with four fatalities from Jan 1 to June 3, 2023.

In a press conference on Friday, June 23, 2023, Governor Arthur Defensor Jr. said that they still need to check if there is already a vaccination program in place as they also need “to level off with the national government.”

“We have 14 since January and one is not good already, and may mortalities pa kita. Tan-awon ta danay kung ang vaccination program in place. We want to level off with the national government, the Department of Health (DOH), but we will embark on nga dapat may initiative kita dira sa vaccination sa masakit nga ini,” Defensor said.

The governor added that while vaccines are not yet available in the province, other preventive measures should be practiced in the community, just like the Capitol’s “Limpyo Iloilo” campaign and the 4S strategy (search and destroy breeding places; seeking early treatment; self-protection measures; say yes to fogging).

Meanwhile, Iloilo Provincial Health Office (IPHO) chief Dr. Maria Socorro Colmenares-Quiñon said that they have no funds allocated for the procurement of JE vaccines and the province must communicate with the DOH if it wants to proceed with a vaccination program.

“I heard from DOH that we need to communicate this with the central office because just like the COVID-19 vaccine, it needs to check the safety and efficacy of the vaccines. Although this has been used worldwide, we need to determine which among the vaccines that will be used in the Philippines has gone through a thorough evaluation,” Quiñon explained.

The PHO chief also revealed that in 2019, the DOH has already introduced the JE vaccine to its immunization program nationwide, including in Iloilo province, but it did not push through due to the controversy surrounding Dengvaxia.

“We were supposed to vaccinate before Dengvaxia. We were supposed to have that kay may available ang DOH vaccines for JE kay since ang Iloilo endemic for the virus. May study ang Korean government if we can vaccinate diri pero nauntat to tungod sa natabo sa Dengvaxia, so wla na to sang stocks sang vaccines,” she said.

The affected individuals in the province still stand at 14 cases with four fatalities, as of June 23, 2023, according to Quiñon, but there are still some specimens with pending confirmatory results.

The IPHO is also set to convene all municipal and city health officers in the province, together with experts from the Philippine Pediatric Society, to discuss concerns about mosquito-borne diseases, including JEV.

“It is quite deadly as dengue and it has a fatality rate of 30-50 percent and may result in complications of 50%. So hindi naton gusto nga may mga ara kita nga maging PWDs na because of the effects or complications of Japanese encephalitis,” Quiñon added.

JEV can be transmitted to humans through the bites of infected mosquitos called Culex tritaeniorhynchus, which thrives in rural agricultural areas, such as rice-growing and pig-farming regions.

It affects the brain and spinal cord of individuals, which causes severe persistent complications that can lead to death, while its symptoms include fever and chills, headache, abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting, tiredness and convulsions.