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Friday, March 29, 2024

Health hits Sanofi over ‘defective’ vaccine

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THE Health Department said Monday it will file a civil case against Sanofi Pasteur after it refused to refund the P3.5 billion it spent to buy the Dengvaxia vaccine, which the company later admitted could cause more severe cases of dengue among those that had not been exposed to the virus.

Speaking to ABS-CBN News, Health Undersecretary Eric Domingo said the department would seek the help of the Office of the Solicitor General, arguing that Sanofi had sold the country a defective product.

“It’s not the product that they promised it to be,” Domingo was quoted as saying in a mix of Filipino and English. “It’s like selling a car and saying it’s good, then having the defects discovered later on.”

“The product should be returned. You’re not absolved just because the defect was not immediately spotted,” he added.

The Aquino administration agreed to purchase P3.5 billion worth of Dengvaxia in 2015 for a nationwide vaccination program for schoolchildren.

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But after some 830,000 children were vaccinated, Sanofi announced that the vaccine could lead to more severe forms of dengue if those inoculated had not been previously exposed to the mosquito-borne virus.

Meanwhile, an anti-corruption watchdog urged the Justice Department to secure the records of the Dengvaxia vaccine amid reports of a cover-up in the investigation of the anomaly.

In a letter, the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption and Vanguard of the Philippine Constitution Inc. asked the DOJ to subpoena or require the submission of all documents on the immunization project from the Department of Health, Department of Budget and Management and other agencies.

 VACC lawyer Nasser Marohomsalic said the records should be secured for purposes of preliminary investigation on criminal charges they filed against former President Benigno Aquino III and 19 others last week.

“Notably, the documents requested to be produced are material and relevant, and tended to establish the facts in issue,” said the letter addressed to Prosecutor General Jorge Catalan Jr.

The VACC earlier claimed that some senior DOH officials were trying to cover up the anomaly and allegedly started to destroy evidence.

Among the documents sought by the complainants were the contracts with Sanofi Pasteur and Zuellig Pharma Corp., purchase order, delivery receipts and technical papers for the implementation of school-based immunization program—all from the Philippine Children’s Medical Center.

The complainants also asked the DOJ to summon records for license and product registration of Dengvaxia issued by the Food and Drug Administration.

]The VACC and VPCI also sought the pertinent DBM documents, including the special allotment release order for the project, submitted to the DOJ. 

They also sought the mandatory submission of records pertaining to the exemption of Dengvaxia from the national drug formulary by the DOH formulary executive council and the cost-effectiveness study conducted by Dr. Hilton Lam of the University of the Philippines National Institute of Health. 

VACC and VPCI also wanted the forensic findings of the Public Attorney’s Office and UP Philippine General Hospital on deaths associated to Dengvaxia.  

The two groups filed charges of multiple homicide and physical injuries through negligence against Aquino and other former officials before the DOJ on Feb. 12.

The complaint also named as respondents former Budget and Management secretary Florencio Abad; former Health secretary Janette Garin; incumbent Health undersecretaries Carol Tanio, Gerardo Bayugo, Lilibeth David and Mario Villaverde; former retired undersecretaries Nemesio Gako, Vicente Belizario Jr. and Kenneth Hartigan-Go; assistant secretaries Lyndon Lee Suy and Nestor Santiago; former financial management service director Laureano Cruz; incumbent DOH directors Joyce Ducusin, May Wynn Belo, Leonila Gorgolon, Rio Magpantay, Ariel Valencia and Julius Lecciones; and Garin’s former executive assistant Yolanda Oliveros.

Also on Monday, the Philippine Alliance of Patient Organizations called for a rational investigation of Dengvaxia by disallowing people with “a political agenda” get in the picture.

“Instead of a rational and careful fact-finding process, the investigation has become highly politicized.  These actions have seriously affected the Department of Health´s vaccination program,” the group said in a statement.

“Remove the investigation from the hands of people with a political agenda and let people with unbiased and technical knowledge take the lead,” the group added.

PAPO’s statement came amid reports that the chief of the Public Attorney’s Office, Persida Acosta, is gunning for a senatorial slot in next year’s elections.

Critics accused the PAO chief of grandstanding on the Dengvaxia case appeared colored with politics.

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