Senator Richard J. Gordon on Wednesday told the public to focus on the real issues and the accountabilities of the personalities who pushed for the procurement and rollout of the controversial dengue vaccine, which he said was “still half-baked at that time.”
“Focus on the criminals who made Dengvaxia happen here, criminals in procurement, those who are conflicted,” he said.
Gordon noted that the fight “is against the criminals.”
“We should know what really happened. They bought [something] not needed, They engaged in mass vaccination when it was not ready yet. They stampeded everybody to approve it,” the chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee stressed.
He said “this big corporation”—referring to French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi, which sold the drug to the Philippine government—”has so much money that they can manipulate issues.”
“They managed to flip it so doctors are fighting their fellow doctors, agency against agency,” said Gordon.
He noted that Sanofi’s “PR [public relations] people” have managed to “make it a fight between doctors. That is not the fight we are talking about.”
“I caution everybody to focus on the investigation and punish the right people,” he added.
He said cases should be filed against officials who, in manipulating the procurement and rollout of the vaccine, may have violated laws and rules.
For example, based on the Certificate of Product Registration issued by the Food and Drug Administration, Dengvaxia is a prescription drug, “yet it was used on a mass vaccination scale, without prior consultation with and prescription from a doctor,” the senator said. Macon Ramos-Araneta
Gordon also assured that while the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee remains “four-square” in seeking accountability from top to bottom, “the health of the people, mostly children, who were administered with the vaccine is still paramount.”
“Likewise, we are also ensuring that the government, particularly the Department of Health, provides prompt and necessary medical assistance to the people inoculated, in the event that they develop adverse side effects,” he said.
“We need to calm the people down. This Dengvaxia controversy has caused parents panic, serious anxiety and mental anguish, even sleepless nights,” the senator added.
The issue has put a bad name to vaccination, triggering a vaccine scare, Gordon noted. The DoH should thus “allay this fear and restore public trust and confidence in the government’s public health programs.”