MANILA – Thirty-five people including past and present Health department officials have been charged in connection with deaths linked to the anti-dengue vaccine Dengvaxia.
Public Attorney’s Office chief Persida Acosta, whose office lodged the charges at the Department of Justice, said the cases included reckless imprudence resulting to homicide, torture resulting in the death of a person and torture committed against children.
Among those charged were former secretary Janette Garin, Dr. Kenneth Hartigan-Go, Dr. Lyndon Lee Suy, Dr. Gerardo Bayugo, Dr. Irma L. Asuncion, Dr. Joyce Ducusin, and Dr. Maria Rosario Z. Capeding.
“We have established a strong link between the mass vaccination and the untimely death of the victims,” said Acosta. “The deaths are not mere coincidental. The deaths are unusual.”
Other respondents included officials from Dengvaxia manufacturer Sanofi Pasteur and local distributor Zuellig Pharma.
“The vaccination was really suspicious because the children affected appeared to be healthy, so bakit sila namatay?” Acosta said. “Buo ang paniniwala namin na iyong vaccine talaga ang dahilan ng pagkamatay ng mga bata.”
She said the PAO forensic division has examined 41 children casualties and found “similar patterns” in their deaths.
“Now apat na [families] pa lang ang nagsasampa ng kaso pero tuluy-tuloy pa ito sa mga susunod na linggo,” said Acosta.
Curiously Benigno Aquino III – during whose term as president the government bought Dengvaxia and the mass dengue immunization program using the vaccine was rolled out – was not included in the charge sheet.
The Aquino administration initiated the program summer of 2016.
It bought P3.5 billion in Dengvaxia shots for one million public school children in regions reported to have the highest incidence of dengue in the country.
The Department of Health stopped the program in December 2017 after Sanofi Pasteur said the vaccine might increase the risk of severe dengue in recipients who have not yet contracted the virus. At the time, more than 800,000 schoolchildren had already been inoculated./PN
