DOH mulls inclusion of hepa B vaccination

The Department of Health (DOH) will study the possibility of including anti-hepatitis B vaccination in the expanded immunization program, noting that some eight million Filipinos are suffering from the disease.

But Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit said the decision hinges on a continued supply of anti-hepatitis B vaccines.

Dayrit said hepatitis B was included in the immunization program in the 1990s but was later dropped due to lack of funds to purchase the vaccines.

"The vaccines were expensive then but now (they are) chea—per," he said.

The government’s immunization program presently includes children’s ailments such as measles, polio and diphtheria.

The Philippine Cancer Society and the Philippine Gastroenterology Society (PGS) have heightened their awareness campaign about hepatitis B, which is the leading cause of liver cancer.

Dr. Erlinda Valdellon, a PGS disease expert, said the Philippines is considered a "hyper-endemic region" for hepatitis B with an estimated prevalence rate of chronic hepatitis of eight to 10 percent of the population.

According to Valdellon, a hepatitis B patient is 16 times more at risk of developing liver cancer. Next year, over 7,629 hepatitis B cases are expected to progress into liver cancer.

Hepatitis B is spread through transfusion of infected blood, sexual intercourse and maternal transmission of the virus to the infant.

Dr. Samuel So, director of the Asian Liver Cancer and the Liver Cancer Program in Stanford University, said the best strategy to control hepatitis B is to immunize children within 12 hours upon birth.