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MANILA – As probe on the dengue-vaccine controversy nears, Sen. Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito yesterday said he wants it to focus on the possibility of “haste” in the drug’s purchase when asked if former president Benigno Aquino should now speak up on the issue.
“Sa ngayon kasi, we want to focus on the procurement kung nagkaroon ng haste sa procurement. It will be premature to point to the top already,” he said. “But if it will reach the top then we will advise them to answer.”
In the briefing, he said the meetings of Aquino with Sanofi Pasteur are also something to look into.
“It will be unethical that they were able to bag the P3.5-billion contract,” Ejercito said. “Bakit there were two instances, hindi lang sa France, ‘yung isa sa China. What are the officials of Sanofi doing in China while the president is there?”
In 2014, Aquino met with Sanofi in China who informed him they are developing vaccines against dengue.
In 2015, he met with Sanofi Pasteur chief executive officer Olivier Charmeil for a courtesy call at the Hotel Scribe in France.
In 2016, the administration of the dengue vaccine to public school students was approved, earmarking a P3.5-billion fund for the program.
But in November this year, Sanofi Pasteur revealed the drug may cause a severe case of disease among recipients who have not contracted the dengue virus before.
At present, Dengvaxia vaccine had already been administered to more than 700,000 public school children.
Senate is set to conduct a public hearing on Dec. 11 to probe on the controversy. If Aquino will be invited as a resource person, Ejercito said it would be the Senate Blue Ribbon committee’s call. (PNA)
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