FORMER President Beningo Aquino III should apoligize for the P3.5-billion anti-dengue vaccination program that has put the lives of a million Filipino children af risk, said Senator Richard Gordon, chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee.
“You just wait, I will be very frank. It’s time that he should be [held] liabile,” Gordon said of Aquino, after his committee held its fourth meeting last week on the government’s hasty purchase and widespread use of the Dengvaxia vaccine before clinical trials were concluded and before reports surfaced that the drug could have severe effects on those who had not had contact with the dengue virus before.
Gordon said the purchase of the vaccines was done in haste, coming shortly after Aquino met officials of the Sanofi Pasteur drug company in Paris in 2015.
He accused Aquino of ducking responsibility, first for the Mamasapano massacre, and now for the dengue vaccine mess.
Gordon said his recommendations would be in the committee report.
Based on the Blue Ribbon committee timeline, the Special Allotment Relese Order for the Dengvaxia purchase was issued in December 2015, the same month that Aquino met with Sanofi officials in Paris.
Aquino has repeatedly denied that the purchase of the vaccines was rushed.
Testifying before the Blue Ribbon committee in December 2017, Aquino said his administration began to focus on dengue after receiving a memo from Ona in 2010. He said the memo highlighted that there were five regions that reported alarming increases in dengue cases, adding that around 2.8-million people were at risk of contracting dengue then.
Aquino met with officials of the French pharmaceutical company Sanofi Pasteur on Nov. 9, 2014 in Beijing, China and on Dec. 1, 2015 in Paris, France.
Aquino has been charged before the Office of the Ombudsman in connection with the Dengvaxia case.
Earlier, the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption said it may include Aquino and former Health secretary Janette Garin in the plunder complaints it will file with the Ombudsman.
Gordon said Garin would surely be held accountable. “She needs to fully explain,” he added.
Meanwhile, the expert panel formed by the Department of Health to investigate the controversy behind Dengvaxia is expected to recommend the completion of Dengvaxia vaccination for those who already took the first and second doses of the anti-dengue vaccine.
During a hearing, one of the members of the expert panel disclosed that based on their initial findings, it is recommended for those already vaccinated by Dengvaxia on the first and second doses to complete the third dose to fully experience the full efficacy of the vaccine.
The findings of the expert panel, which will be released this week, show that Dengvaxia is effective 95 percent of the time when administered to patients who had already contracted the dengue virus.
The possibility of those who were vaccinated by dengvaxia without a history of dengue virus infection is 0.0002 percent chances of developing severe dengue. Symptoms of severe dengue, according to experts, includes having fever for two days at least, some form of rashes and possible low blood count. Dengue is not a lethal disease. It is curable if immediate medical attention is taken by the patient suspected of contracting the virus.
The vaccination program of the DoH initially targeted a million children. It was to be given in three doses spaced six months apart.
It was put on hold in December last year following Sanofi’s advisory that Dengvaxia should not be given to patients who have not had dengue in the past as it may cause severe diseases in the long run.