DOH expecting shortage on pertussis vaccines

 A shortage of pertussis or whooping cough vaccines is expected next month and an order for additional doses will be placed, according to the Department of Health (DOH).

- RHODINA VILLANUEVA

"We have enough (vaccines), but we will have a shortage sometime in May.

This is a gap we are addressing now, that is why we plan to order the old vaccines," Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa said yesterday.

Herbosa is referring to the DPT vaccine that gives children protection against diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus.

"When you order the vaccine, that's only the time that they (pharmaceutical company) will manufacture it and you also have to consider the lag time," he noted.

Early this year, the DOH placed an order for pertussis vaccines but it would take around four months before its arrival, he added.

"It will take some 120 days, meaning its arrival will be in June and our supply is about to run out. It will now be difficult to advise parents to immediately bring their children for vaccination if there are only a few vaccines left," Herbosa said.