Former President Benigno Aquino III said Monday the benefits of an anti-dengue vaccine that was administered to 830,000 children under his watch outweighed the risks.
He said the vaccine was effective for 30 months after it is given and only 0.2 percent of those who did not have previous dengue infections would likely suffer from a severe infection.
“To this day, nothing has shown that Dengvaxia caused deaths,” Aquino told reporters after he faced a preliminary investigation at the Department of Justice.
Aquino showed up before the department and sought the dismissal of the charges against him arising from the deaths of schoolchildren inoculated with the Dengvaxia vaccine.
Aquino, along with former Health secretary Janette Garin and former Budget secretary Florencio Abad, submitted before the department’s prosecutors their counter-affidavits to the complaint filed by anti-corruption groups Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption and Vanguard of the Philippine Constitution Inc. in February.
With Congress going on sine die adjournment without passing the measure proposing to allocate a special fund for assisting the more than 830,000 recipients of the Dengvaxia vaccine, Senator Richard Gordon advised the Department of Health to use its current resources and operations pending the approval of the P1.2-billion fund.
Though admitting to being a bit disappointed that the bill, which President Rodrigo Duterte had certified as urgent, was not passed before the Senate adjourned, Gordon said the Health department could take steps to ensure that the recipients would receive assistance without delay.
Aquino said only 10 percent of those who got Dengvaxia had not been infected with dengue before they got the drug.
French drug-maker maker Sanofi Pasteur admitted last year that Dengvaxia might cause severe dengue symptoms if given to those who had not had the disease before.
The Justice department is investigating a complaint that cited Aquino, Abad, and Garin for criminal negligence, among other charges.
Abad and Garin also faced the preliminary investigation on Monday. State prosecutors will determine whether or not the complaint filed by an anti-crime group will be forwarded to the courts.
The administration of President Rodrigo Duterte scrapped the vaccination program as several parents claimed that their children died after being given Dengvaxia.