By Franco G. Regala City of San Fernando, Pampanga – The Department of Health (DOH) has launched the Dengue Immunization Record Card in the province over the weekend to intensify the monitoring and surveillance of recipients of the Dengvaxia vaccine. Health Secretary Francisco Duque III led top officials of the DOH during the Provincial Dengue Summit held at the Bren Z. Guiao Convention Center, according to DOH Regional Director Leonita Gorgolon. She said the ID system will aid in strengthening the surveillance and reporting system for any adverse effect experienced by children who received Dengavaxia doses. She added that the ID was conceptualized to address the issue of disaggregating those who were vaccinated with Dengvaxia from those who were not because there are also many dengue patients who are not recipients of the vaccine. Gorgolon explained that there are two types of cards—the bigger one is for the parents while the smaller one is for children who received the vaccine. “Both cards contain basic information about the recipient of the vaccine including his/her name, grade level, gender, name and contact number of his/her parent or guardian as well as the number of doses received and the date he/she received each dose,'' said Gorgolon. In addition, Gorgolon said the ID also contains information and interventions when a child manifests symptoms of dengue and the hotline numbers of DOH. “In case the child manifests dengue symptoms, this ID must be presented to the health facility so that they know that he/she is a recipient of Dengvaxia and he/she will be given priority in his/her medical needs,” the official added. “For the mothers, we are giving them IDs as well because there are instances when mothers go to health facilities claiming that their child was vaccinated with Dengvaxia. In fact, there is one instance when a parent granted an interview with the media, but when we verify it, that parent is not in the masterlist of beneficiaries. So these are some of the issues that we want to address,” she furthered. On the part of health facilities, the ID system will facilitate their reporting system to the rural health units and DOH. Earlier, Gorgolon said that close monitoring of all those who were given the initial dose of the vaccine is critical for the next five years. The IDs are also being distributed in other parts of Central Luzon, the Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) region, Metro Manila and Cebu.