National Change

Organization’s

Dengvaxia Response

Solution Proposal

by Via Zareena Bulda and Naomi Maraviles

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

Via Zareena Bulda, Naomi Joy Maraviles Block 18 Lot 54 Willow Street, Antel Grand Village, Bacao 2, General Trias, Cavite 4107 52 Dinar St., CBE Townhomes, Brgy. Pasong Tamo, 1800

Dr. Francisco Duque III, Department of Health Secretary San Lazaro Compound, Tayuman, Sta. Cruz, , Philippines 1003

March 3, 2018

Dear Dr. Francisco Duque III,

Attached to this letter is a proposal for the risk management communication plan for the . The proposal is based on the findings and overall report produced by the National Change Organization.

The communication plan solely focused on giving alternative solutions to the victims of the Dengvaxia, by producing paper materials to be disseminated nationwide like brochures, leaflets, and posters containing general information, frequently asked questions, and contact details. The organization also aims to propose a partnership with the government to conduct seminars and require a task force in all hospitals, both public and private, to help and attend to the needs of the victims.

After a thorough observation and investigation, the National Change Organization assures that the communication plan can help and guide the victims.

If you have any questions or want to discuss this matter further, we can be reached at the above addresses, at (0955) 915 0366 and (0905) 511 3919, or at [email protected] and [email protected].

.

Sincerely,

Via Zareena Bulda Naomi Joy Maraviles

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List of Tables

Table 1: Dengvaxia Timeline ...... 14 Table 2: Internal and External Target Groups for Communication Plan ...... 17 Table 3: Communication Work Plan ...... 18 Table 4: Gantt Chart for the Communication Plan Timetable ...... 20 Table 5: Print and Online Materials and Seminar Equipment Budget Table ...... 21 Table 6: Overall Cost of the Communication Plan ...... 21

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Table of Contents

Letter of Transmittal ...... 2 Executive Summary ...... 5 National Change Organization ...... 5 Business Mission ...... 5 New Services ...... 5 Business Goals and Objectives ...... 5 Introduction ...... 6 Background of Study ...... 6 Statement of the Problem ...... 7 Significance of the Study ...... 7 Purpose ...... 8 Objectives ...... 9 Findings ...... 9 Body ...... 11 Timeline of Dengvaxia ...... 11 Review of Related Events ...... 14 Communication Plan ...... 16 Target Groups ...... 16 Communication Strategies and Work Plan ...... 17 Staff and Timetable ...... 19 Cost ...... 20 Evaluation ...... 21 Conclusion ...... 23 Conclusion ...... 23 Recommendations ...... 24 Appendices ...... 26 References ...... 30

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

NATIONAL CHANGE ORGANIZATION National Change Organization, widely known as the NCO, is one of the top non-profit organizations in the Philippines. Established last January 1, 2018, the organization continues to grow up to this day with the expectation of rapid expansion in the risk communication industry.

Formed by Via Zareena Bulda and Naomi Joy Maraviles, BS Technical Communication graduates of Mapua University, in hopes of making relevant changes in the country. NCO aims to serve, help, and reach out to the needs of the people of the Republic of the Philippines by providing alternative solutions to resolve countless issues and controversies.

Business Mission One of the organization’s biggest achievements is that they were already able to provide alternative solutions, in partnership with the city of Manila, to reduce poverty in the urban areas.

New Services The organization is beyond prepared to introduce their alternative solutions to resolve the Dengvaxia controversy:

Paper Materials: NCO will be designing and disseminating leaflets, brochures, and posters nationwide that contains general information, frequently asked questions about Dengvaxia, and contact details that vary depending on location.

Seminars and Forums: NCO will collaborate with the government to conduct seminars, entitled “Magandang Kalusugan Para sa Magandang Kinabukasan,” and forums that will open opportunities for a thorough face-to-face interaction.

Dengvaxia Task Force/Groups: NCO will propose a partnership with the government and hospitals, both public and private, for the implementation of task groups that will help the patients with illnesses linked to Dengvaxia.

Disease/post marketing Surveillance System: NCO will encourage the government to implement this system that will analyze and observe a drug and vaccine for the succeeding months after licensure.

Business Goals and Objectives Short-Term Goals: To provide quality service to the Filipino people. Long-term Goals: To consistently provide help and alternative solutions to resolve national issues.

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INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

One of the biggest issues in the Philippines today is the

severity of the effects of Dengvaxia to the youth that have

never been diagnosed with dengue in the past. Dengvaxia was Dengvaxia is manufactured by created by Sanofi Pasteur, a French company, and they Sanofi Pasteur distributed the said vaccine all around the world, especially

those within the areas with high number of dengue cases--in

hopes of saving millions of lives. It was first registered in

Mexico last December 2015.

Dengvaxia, also known as the CYD-TDV, is a live Dengavia,

registered for use in recombinant tetravalent dengue vaccine that has been evaluated Individuals aged 9- 45 years old in as a 3-dose series on a 0-6-12 month schedule in Phase III

endemic areas clinical studies. It has been registered for use in individuals 9-

45 years of age living in endemic areas (WHO, 2017). Dengue,

on the other hand, is a mosquito-borne flavivirus disease that Dengue is

mosquito-borned has spread to most tropical and many subtropical areas (WHO, disease prevalent in tropical areas 2017).

In the Philippine setting, the dengvaxia issue created

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quite a stir, for victims included public school(s) students, young children, and adolescents. Most victims were shot free (provided by the government), meanwhile some were asked to pay for the vaccine by their own doctors. Months after they were vaccinated, a lot of reports came to the attention of the government, stating that the said vaccine had a lot of side effects especially to those who were not diagnosed with dengue in the past.

It started year 2014, when former president Benigno Aquino III started meeting with

Jean-Luc Lowinski, the Sanofi Pasteur Vice President in Asia, in Beijing, China. The government then negotiated with the company and bought 3.5-billion Philippine peso worth of vaccines (CNN, 2018). As of 2018, the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) have filed cases against former Health secretary , former Undersecretary Kenneth Uy, and other health officials for not reassuring the level of safety and efficacy of the vaccines. Senate Blue Ribbon committee chair Richard Gordon has also suggested to file a case against Aquino and former government officials (CNN, 2018).

Statement of the problem

Public school students were required to be vaccinated by a dengue vaccine that was meant to save lives--the Dengvaxia vaccine. They will be given shots in a 0-6-12 month schedule, but months after, instead of seeing improvements and positive effects, the vaccines placed the lives of the victims in great danger and risk. Our organization aims to help the victims by guiding them on what to do, where to go, and who to look for whenever they want to. With the help of our government, NCO also aim to well-inform the public, victims and non-victims, on how to know if a vaccine (or a medicine, in some cases) is safe or not.

Significance of the study

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The Dengvaxia controversy is one of the biggest issues in our society for months after the victims were vaccinated, they were only able to find out the side effects and the limitations of the vaccine. A thorough investigation and series of tests were not done by the government, and it is causing panic among the public and distrust towards the government.

Scope and limitations

This proposal focuses on the Dengvaxia controversy within the Philippines. The other nine countries that were distributed with the Dengvaxia vaccine by Sanofi Pasteur are not included in this proposal for the reasons that: (1) there were no reports of problems encountered with the vaccines, and (2) these countries have different laws and procedures in their society compared to the Philippines. The audience for this proposal is the Filipinos that were injected with Dengvaxia, regardless of age. Furthermore, this proposal only focuses on one vaccine, which is Dengvaxia. Therefore, this proposal is not applicable to other vaccines that were withdrawn from distribution or encountered the same problems.

Purpose

This proposal intents to provide a detailed report regarding the Dengvaxia vaccine and ways to mitigate the problem. Moreover, the purpose of this proposal is to motivate the government into doing campaigns that is more approachable that will reach a wider audience.

The communication plan presented will provide the government – both local and national – with informations on how to effectively implement seminars that will help those citizens that were affected. The people that were injected with the vaccine, and their families, will benefit from this because they will be educated on every information that they need to know about the situation.

Ultimately, this proposal will help contain the panic and alleviate the citizens’ uncertainties about the vaccine.

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Objectives

National Change Organization aims to reach out to, help, and educate the victims of dengvaxia by proposing a partnership with the government to conduct seminars on how to handle the issue, and to require both public and private hospitals nationwide to help the dengvaxia victims. NGO will be giving out brochures and leaflets containing general information about the vaccine and contact details of the nearest hospitals (within particular areas), government, and non-government organization(s). Furthermore, the organization encourages the government and public hospitals to implement a task group that will help and prioritize patients that are immunized with Dengvaxia, and implement a disease surveillance system.

Findings

In a statement by Sanofi Pasteur (CNN, 2018), of the 800,000 student that were injected with the Dengvaxia vaccine, 10% are experiencing severe illness. These children that are having diseases have no recorded history of ever having former dengue infection. According to a press release by Sanofi Pasteur (2017), the manufacturer of Dengvaxia, the vaccine has different effects on patients based on prior dengue infection. Furthermore, the press release centers on the long-term effectiveness and safety of the vaccine to patients considering whether they have had past dengue infection. The company discovered that for those who had dengue before, the vaccine continues to be beneficial for the protection against dengue fever (Sanofi, 2017).

However, severe illness is anticipated for those patients that were not previously infected by dengue (Sanofi, 2017).

The issue regarding Dengvaxia stems from the failed communication between the

Philippine government agencies and (1) the manufacturer, and (2) the Filipino citizens that were immunized with the vaccine, which caused a panic. The alarm was not contained and was further

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generated when the previous and present administration in the Philippines shifted the blame to one another (CNN, 2018). The current administration accusing Aquino’s administration for rushing the purchase of the vaccines that led to not having all the information regarding the product (Cupin, 2018). The Philippine government is also claiming that Sanofi Pasteur did not disclose all the necessary information, especially the risks, to them and the public, which the pharmaceutical company denied (Santos, 2018). Moreover, there was an evident misinformation to the public about the vaccine (Cupin, 2018).

Nation Change Organization (NCO), striving to resolve this miscommunication, produced a communication plan with local and national government partnership. This partnership will hold campaigns and seminars in barangay communities that will educate the public, especially the families that were immunized with Dengvaxia. Furthermore, NCO will collaborate with public hospital, such as Philippine General Hospital (PGH) and Philippine

Children's Medical Center (PCMC), for the implementation of task groups that will entertain and help those patients with illness linked to Dengvaxia.

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BODY

Timeline of Dengvaxia

2014 Dengvaxia successfully completes its two 2014 marks the parallel Phase III clinical studies, which completion of compare the safety and effectiveness of the Dengvaxia’s Phase new treatment. 3 clinical studies November Former president Benigno Aquino III meets 9, 2014 Sanofi Pasteur Senior Vice President in Asia, Jean-Luc Lowinski at the Philippine Embassy in Beijing, China.

Former Health June 9, 2015 Former Health Secretary Janette Garin Secretary Garin negotiates with Sanofi Pasteur to reduce the negotiates to lessen cost of the vaccines. the price of Dengvaxia October 29, Sanofi Pasteur applies at the Department of vaccines on June 2015 Health (DOH) for Dengvaxia to be included in 2015 the Philippine National Formulary.

December Aquino and Garin meet Sanofi Pasteur 1, 2015 officials during the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Paris, 3 million doses are France. proposed to be December Garin submits a proposal to the Budget bought on 10, 2015 Department to buy three million doses of December 2015 Dengvaxia.

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December The Philippines grants marketing approval to Dengvaxia, making it the first 22, 2015 vaccine to be licensed for the prevention of dengue in Asia.

December The DOH-Family Health Office submits a request to Garin to exempt 28, 2015 Dengvaxia from being included in the Philippine National Formulary.

December The Budget Department issues a 3.5 billion Philippine peso Special Allotment 29, 2015 Release Order to Garin's office to purchase the vaccines.

January 21, The Philippine Children's Medical Center (PCMC) makes a 3 billion Philippine 2016 peso purchase order for the vaccines without approval from the FEC.

February 3, Garin issues a Certificate of Exemption for Dengvaxia vaccines to be utilized in 2016 the pilot implementation in the National Capital Region, Region III, and Region IV-A.

February The Philippines, under Health Secretary Janette Garin, hosts the nationwide 11, 2016 launch of Dengvaxia.

March 2016 The World Health Organization (WHO) calls for more studies into the vaccine and releases a paper saying Dengvaxia "may be ineffective or may even increase that risk in those who are seronegative at the time of first vaccination."

March 8, Garin issues a 3 billion Philippine peso disbursement voucher to the PCMC to 2016 fund the purchase of the vaccines.

March 9, The PCMC issues its purchase order to Zuellig Pharma, the distributor of 2016 Dengvaxia.

April 4, The government kicks off its 3.5 billion Philippine peso, school-based dengue 2016 immunization program.

July 2016 The WHO releases another paper, saying Dengvaxia may act as a silent natural infection that primes seronegative vaccinees. Former Health Secretary issues a resolution temporarily suspending the school-based dengue immunization program.

September The Medical Research Council Center for Outbreak Analysis and Modelling at 2016 Imperial College London releases a study saying Dengvaxia could lead to an increase in the number of cases of the disease if not implemented correctly.

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October The Singapore Health Sciences Authority flags "postulated risk" of Dengvaxia. 2016

November The House of Representatives probes the allegedly anomalous purchase of the 2016 vaccines.

December The Senate launches its own investigation into the vaccines, saying the project 2016 cost was too big and was approved without congressional approval.

November Sanofi Pasteur announces the results of new clinical data analysis, which found 29, 2017 that Dengvaxia is riskier for people not previously infected by the virus.

December Health Secretary Francisco Duque III orders the temporary suspension of the 1, 2017 dengue vaccination program.

December The Justice Department orders the National Bureau of Investigation to look into 4, 2017 the dengue vaccination program.

December The FDA suspends the sale and distribution of Dengvaxia. 5, 2017

December The health department says more than 800,000 students received the vaccine. 6, 2017 There are 40 cases of children who fell seriously ill, up from 30 in 2016, and nine deaths.

December The Health Department says it will return around 800,000 leftover Dengvaxia 7, 2017 vaccines, worth 1.4 billion Philippine peso, to Sanofi Pasteur.

December The health department calls for a refund of the 3.5 billion Philippine peso it paid 8, 2017 for the vaccines. The House and the Senate announced that they will again investigate the dengue vaccination program.

December The Senate starts its probe into the Dengvaxia issue. 11, 2017

December Aquino claims during the hearing that no one advised him against procuring 14, 2017 Dengvaxia.

January 4, Sanofi Pasteur says it has complied with international and local laws and 2018 regulations when it launched Dengvaxia.

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January 10, The Public Attorney's Office (PAO) conducts an autopsy on five vaccinated 2018 children who died. A former DOH official claims that 19 officials, including former Health Secretary Garin, were part of a "mafia" in the department.

January 19, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III confirmed Sanofi Pasteur has refunded 2018 1.16 billion Philippine peso worth of unused Dengvaxia vaccines.

January 26, Duque revealed health officials did not wait for the results of clinical trials of 2018 the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) on Dengvaxia to know its risks before launching the nationwide immunization program. He also sent a letter to Sanofi Pasteur formally requesting for a full refund of all the used and unused vaccines.

February 2, The Philippine General Hospital (PGH) experts' panel reports that out of 14 2018 autopsies they conducted, three died due to complications of dengue.

February 5, Sanofi Pasteur turned down the Department of Health's demand to refund used 2018 dengue vaccine vials and the request to financially support hospitalized vaccinated children. PAO files a civil case against Garin, former Undersecretary Kenneth Uy, and other health officials for implementing the program. Also included in the case are Sanofi and distributor Zuellig Pharma Philippines for failing to inform the public of the vaccine risks.

February 6, Senate Blue Ribbon committee chair Richard Gordon says he may recommend 2018 the filing of charges against Aquino, Garin, and other former officials over the Dengvaxia controversy.

Table 1. Dengvaxia Timeline (CNN, 2018)

Review of related events

The controversy regarding the Dengvaxia vaccine is not a new occurrence in the medical field. There are many cases in the past wherein a manufacturer will discover years later, after the approval of a specific drug, that the medication has long-term side effects – such as severe illness

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or death. Approved medicines and vaccines that are eventually being withdrawn from production is similarly a common incident. An example is Sibutramine, also known as Reductil or Meridia, which is an appetite suppressant or a medicine for weight loss that was withdrawn worldwide in

2010 (Department of Health, Australian Government, 2010). In the Philippines, products that has sibutramine are no longer permissible for circulation because of “increased risk of heart attacks and strokes” (Santos, Inquirer, 2014).

There was an event in 1998 to 1999, however, that is thoroughly related to the Dengvaxia controversy. On August 1998, a vaccine that protects infants against rotavirus diseases was certified by the United States Food and Drug Administration, called the rotavirus vaccine or

RRV-TV (Delage, 2000). Weeks later after receiving a RRV-TV injection, there were 15 reported cases of infants having intussusception – a section of the intestine folding that causes abdominal pain and vomiting (Delage, 2000). Moreover, the intussusception was verified for all

15 patients with three months as the median age, and more than half receiving surgery. This resulted to the postponing of distribution of RRV-TV, and the manufacturer voluntarily terminated the vaccine allocation altogether (Delage, 2000).

The essential information about this event is not only the immediate accountability action by the manufacturer, Wyeth-Lederle Vaccines, but the “postmarketing surveillance” (Delage,

2000) of the vaccine program operation. Postmarketing surveillance is a system that different US government agencies implement after a product is released to observe the after effects of a product. Through this system, the health groups in the United States was able to identify that weeks after the immunization, risk of intussusception increases despite the information not being known before the accreditation of the vaccine (Delage, 2000). In Canada, they have an active postmarketing or disease surveillance system, called the Immunization Monitoring Program

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ACTive (IMPACT) [Scheifele, et al., 1993]. They have an active surveillance system because this gives their country the complete and necessary information that they need regarding any specific product that is under analysis (Scheifele, et al., 1993).

Communication Plan

This section will provide the communication plan for the resolving the problem with the misinformed public. Conducting a seminar, called “Magandang Kalusugan Para sa Magandang

Kinabukasan,” is the main approach for this plan. The target groups, strategies and work plan, methods and timetable, cost, and project evaluation will be presented in detail.

Target Groups

National Change Organization focuses on reaching communities within barangays wherein Dengvaxia is widely distributed. It is necessary for NCO to reach and engage a broader audience because the objective is to educate as many people possible; therefore, there will be different target clusters that need to be approached for the plan to work effectively. There will be internal and external groups which are listed in Table 2.

INTERNAL (ITG) Target Group Role Approach Produce and design the paper Marketing and Creatives and online materials, and Committee, MCC (within promote the seminars and NCO) campaign through publicity materials. E-mails and face-to-face Government Department/s, Certify the seminar, disease meetings GVD (such as the surveillance system, and task Department of Health) group, and promote it. Public Hospitals, PH (PGH Accredit the task groups and and PCMC) disease surveillance system,

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and implement it in the hospital. Oversee the processes within Public Relations, PR (within the whole duration of the NCO) campaign and seminars, and contact the necessary groups. EXTERNAL (ETG) Target Group Benefit Approach Parents • Learn more about the Children (Ages 2-12) benefits and risk of the People Immunized with Dengvaxia vaccine; Dengvaxia • be made aware of the possible symptoms that a person will encounter Seminars, brochures, and upon injection of the social media vaccine; Unaffiliated Citizens • and know which agency, authority, or people to approach.

Table 2. Internal and External Target Groups for Communication Plan

Communication Strategies and Work Plan

According to the 2017 report released by Hootsuite and We Are Social Ltd. (Camus,

2017), Philippines is among the top three social media users for that year with Filipinos spending an average of 4 hours and 17 minutes per day on social media. These social media sites are mainly Facebook, Snapchat, and Twitter; therefore, NCO will utilize these online platforms to reach a wider and diverse demographic. Facebook and Twitter will be mainly used for seminar updates and posting of educational materials in a form of infographics or short videos. As for

Snapchat, it will be used for showcasing essential information in the seminars through short clips. Moreover, the seminars that will be conducted every 10th of the month in barangay sites will be supplemented with paper materials (brochures and leaflets). The latter strategy centers on

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families that do not have internet access, and therefore giving them a permanent copy of information that they need to know through these printed materials.

For the internal target group, however, most of the interaction will happen through face- to-face meetings and electronic mails. Other platforms for engaging will be used, but the dissemination of task and group discussion will be most efficient when all members are gathered in an assembly. Through this, reports are delivered with efficacy and evaluation can be accomplished immediately.

National Change Organization will follow a three-month plan that includes the proposal, execution, and evaluation stages. This three-month plan will utilize all three social media platforms mentioned and do site visits to accomplish the objectives and reach the target groups.

Apr Mar Apr May Jun Target Mar 22- Objective Activity Channel 19- 1- 13- 1- Group 5-17 May 31 21 31 19 12 Proposing the communication Face-to-face PR to Convincing plan to meetings, e- GVD X authorities government mails, and & PH departments project pitch and hospitals Posting online Facebook, publicity Twitter, and X X X X X MCC materials Snapchat to Placement of Site visit in ETG Raising tarpaulins in barangay X awareness barangay sites communities Creating and designing print MCC Online X X and online materials

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Releasing of educational MCC Facebook, materials, such to Twitter, and X X X X X as brochures ETG Snapchat Educating and the ETG infographics Conducting Barangay X X X PR to seminars sites ETG Live streams of Facebook/ X X X the seminar Snapchat Implementing GVD or having a Internal to disease government X X X X Having a ETG surveillance process response group group Implementing Public and PH to or having a private X X X X ETG task group hospitals Online and ETG Gathering Evaluation barangay X X to ITG feedbacks sites Table 3. Communication Work Plan

Staff and Timetable

Most of the people that will be managing the seminars and working for the materials that will be distributed are the staff of National Change Organization. There will be volunteers on the seminar events for every barangay. The speakers for the seminars will be from different companies and organizations that is a professional on the topic, which is Dengvaxia or health awareness. As for the task group and disease surveillance system, government officials and hospital administrators will be the ones to handle it, respectively. The distribution of work for every target group or personnel is stated on Table 3. On Table 4 is a detailed representation of the time schedule that the NCO will follow for the resolution of Dengvaxia misinformation towards the public. 19

Communication Plan Timetable

05/03/2018 25/03/2018 14/04/2018 04/05/2018 24/05/2018 13/06/2018

Proposal to GVD & PH Pubmats designing Tarpaulin placement Online posting of pubmats Release of materials Seminar 1 w/ preparations Seminar 2 w/ preparations Seminar 3 w/ preparations Disease surveillance group Task group Gathering feedbacks Final evaluation

Table 4. Gantt Chart for the Communication Plan Timetable Cost

This communication plan by NCO is cost-efficient because it does not include buying expensive mahineries or technologies. On Table 5, the cost for the print materials that will be distributed at the seminar, partnered hospitals, and other events is indicated. Furthermore, the expenses for online services is also specified. Facebook and Twitter boost is a service offered by these social media websites for a certain post to be advertised to a different demographic. The communication plan strictly focuses on the three-month plan; therefore, there will be only five

(5) tarpaulins printed and will be distributed in the three (3) different seminar sites. The expenses will repeat after three (3) months when the communication plan will turn out to be efficient as expected. For the third section, seminar equipment, it is most likely subject to change because there are barangays that have a gymnasium or plenary hall that can be used for free, and the

NCO will have partnership with other local barangays.

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PRINT MATERIALS Product Price (in Php) Quantity Total Price (in Php) Tarpaulin (10x6 ft.) 1,500 per piece 5 7,500 Brochure (8.5 x 11 15 per piece 3,000 45,000 inches) Total 52,500 ONLINE MATERIALS Product Price (in Php) Duration Total Price (in Php) Facebook Boost 1,000 per month 3 months 3,000 Twitter Boost 750 per month 3 months 2,250 Total 5,250 SEMINAR EQUIPMENT* Product Price (in Php) Quantity/Duration Total Price (in Php) Monoblock Chair 10 per chair (rental) 260 pieces 2,600 Seminar Location 500 per hour 2 hours 1,000 Refreshments 50 260 13,000 Projector 100 (rental) 1 100 Total 16,700 Table 5. Print and Online Materials and Seminar Equipment Budget Table

Table 6 indicates the estimated overall cost for the communication plan.

OVERALL COST Description Total Price (in Php) Print Materials 52,500 Online Materials 5, 250 Seminar Equipments* 16, 700 Total 74,450 Table 6. Overall Cost of the Communication Plan

Evaluation

The success of the communication plan will be determined by three factors: (1) number of citizens that participated in the barangay seminars; (2) total number of interactions on

Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat; and (3) amount of people that approached the hospital task group. 21

To validate the first factor, the organizers will have an attendance sheet at the front desk or entrance to keep track of the total number of attendees. For each seminar, 200-250 people are expected to attend and participate, which will total to 600-750 people by the end of three months.

Furthermore, all 3,000 brochures must be distributed to either at the seminar or the hospitals.

65% of NCO’s Facebook and Snapchat followers should be watching the seminar livestream every 10th of the month. NCO’s Facebook page rating is also considered, that it must maintain a 4-star rating or higher. For Twitter, tweets should have 85% of active engagements with NCO followers – these are the like, retweet, quote retweet, and replies.

There must be more than 20 people per month that approaches the task group and inquires about anything that is related to Dengvaxia. The task force, furthermore, should accomplish helping all patients, which is present at the hospital, that was immunized with

Dengvaxia that experiences severe sickness. The task group is expected to submit a report to the

NCO and partnerned government department indicating progress and observations.

In addition to all of these evaluation measurements, there will be a feedback form that the organizers will receive from the attendees after every seminar and a feedback form that can be requested from the task group. This is a more direct way of measuring the efficacy of the communication plan, and a way for the external target group to share their insights for the improvement of the strategies used.

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CONCLUSION

Conclusion

The communication plan NCO proposed, if executed

properly, may result to relevant changes that can resolve the

The communication plan will resolve the underlying issues the controversy has brought to the problem with the Philippines. National Change Organization ensures that great misinformed public results will be visible if the public will encourage, support, and

help one another. The paper materials (brochures, posters, and National Change leaflets), after dissemination, can help enlighten and well- Organization ensures that great inform the public. The seminars and forums, if a huge number results will be visible if the public will of people will attend (in each area), will help the public and the encourage, support,

and help one government and organization interact with and help each other another through voicing out their own opinions and possible

recommendations. NCO is open to all types of concerns,

victims and non-victims, and it is ensured that NCO will help

NCO is open to all as much as possible. Social media can also help with the types of concerns, implementation of the proposal by sharing posts that will victims and non-

victims encourage the people. The proposed task force, with the help of

the department of Health and all hospitals 23

nationwide, can minimize the number of complications and fatalities related to the Dengvaxia vaccine. It is not only limited to medical help, but NCO’s medical staff can also help with the concerns of the people.

Once the proposal is considered successful, the organization is aiming to research on other issues, provide solutions for those issues to help the Filipino people, and propose partnerships with international organizations and governments to broaden our zone and provide more solutions that can help resolve countless issues that other nations are facing.

Recommendations

The proposal is limited to providing only alternative solutions which are paper materials, seminars and forums, and a task force that can attend to the needs of the victims. National

Change Organization recommends the following solutions that can be executed in the future by the government and other organizations:

1. A postmarketing surveillance that can be implemented by our government, spearheaded

by the department of Health, that is similar to the system of the United States of America

and Canada wherein a drug or a vaccine undergoes observation after being released to

identify if the drug or vaccine has other effects (discussed in part II section B).

2. Immunization vaccine programs that can help disregard the effects of the Dengvaxia

vaccine to the victims. This solution will take a long time, for after the controversy,

people are now hysterical when it comes to vaccines. The government should ensure the

public that the immunization vaccines are safe by implementing the first recommendation

which will observe and identify the effects of the vaccine, and releasing all the

information to the public before the execution of the program.

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3. A computerized vaccination record can be implemented by the government and hospitals,

and the records can be given to and viewed by schools and outside medical staff (e.g.

municipal/city nurses and barangay nurses) in particular areas in order to verify doses and

the dates.

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Appendices

Appendix A

Print Material Prototype: Brochure

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Print Material Prototype: Invitational Poster

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Print Material Prototype: Informational/Educational Poster

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Appendix B

Online Platform: Facebook Page

Online Platform: Twitter Account

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References

Camus, M. (2017, January 24). Inquirer. Retrieved from PH world’s No. 1 in terms of time spent on social media: http://technology.inquirer.net/58090/ph-worlds-no-1-terms-time-spent- social-media

CNN. (2018, February 26). CNN Philippines. Retrieved from Timeline: The Dengvaxia Controversy: http://cnnphilippines.com/news/2017/12/09/The-Dengvaxia- controversy.html

Cupin, B. (2018, February 26). Rappler. Retrieved from Aquino denies rush in Dengvaxia vaccination program: https://www.rappler.com/nation/196941-dengue-vaccine- dengvaxia-hearing-aquino-rush

Delage, G. (2000). Rotavirus vaccine withdrawal in the United States; The role of postmarketing surveillance. The canadian journal of infectious diseases, 10-12.

Department of Health. (n.d.). Dengue Immunization Frequently Asked Questions. Retrieved March 2018, from Department of Health: http://www.doh.gov.ph/node/11995

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