Iloilo 1st district Rep. Janette Garin (Ellson Quismorio/ MANILA BULLETIN)

House Deputy Majority Leader and Iloilo 1st district Rep. Janette Garin has blamed the leadership of the Department of Health (DOH) during the previous Duterte administration for the reemergence of whooping cough or pertussis amid persisting vaccine hesitancy among Filipinos. 

“Bakit sa buong mundo, sa Pilipinas lang nagkaroon ng pertussis outbreak? At bakit iyong polio bumalik? Bakit nuong mga nakaraang taon grabe ang mga namamatay sa measles? This is all because of vaccine hesitancy,” Garin said in a press conference on Monday, March 11.

(Why in the whole world, only the Philippines had a pertussis outbreak? And why did polio return? Why were measles deaths so bad in recent years?)

Garin, who served as Department of Health (DOH) secretary during the administration of late former president Benigno S. Aquino III, specifically called out former health secretaries Francisco Duque III and Paulyn Ubial. She said vaccine hesitancy was their "legacy".

“Noong kapanahunan na sila ay nasa Department of Health, hindi nila pinigilan na magkaroon ng spread ng maraming fake news,” she said.

(During their time at the Department of Health, they did not prevent the spread of fake news.)

Garin noted that misinformation involving the dengue vaccine called Dengvaxia resulted to the “demonization” of all kinds of vaccines.

“So siyempre kapag denimonized mo iyong isang bakuna at iyong mga pekeng eksperto ay mamamayagpag, mako-confuse iyong tao,” she added.

(So of course when you demononize a vaccine and these fake experts will spread the word, people will be confused.)

According to Garin, vaccine coverage went from 98 percent to just around 30 percent, leading to the return of pertussis and other illnesses such as polio, measles, and mumps.

The lady lawmaker said it would be “unfair” to blame this overwhelming decrease to the current DOH leadership since it’s an offshoot of the previous administration’s lapses.

Because of some parents’ hesitancy to have their children vaccinated, a disease that is supposed to be preventable reemerges.

Garin, who is a physician by profession, says the best way to deal with pertussis is to have catch-up vaccinations and provide early diagnosis. There must be enough medicine for would-be patients, too.

“Pertussis kills and vaccination saves lives,” she stressed.

According to the DOH, there have been nearly 600 reported cases of pertussis since the beginning of the year. Over 40 children have already died due to the illness.