Former President Benigno Aquino III insisted Monday the benefits of the anti-dengue vaccine Dengvaxia that was administered to 830,000 schoolchildren under his watch outweighed the risks.
“To this day, nothing has shown that Dengvaxia caused deaths,” Aquino told reporters after he faced a preliminary investigation at the Justice Department, where he sought the dismissal of charges against him arising from the deaths of children inoculated with the vaccine.
Quoting figures from the medical journal of the World Health Organization, Aquino 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.
Aquino also said only 10 percent of those who got Dengvaxia had not been infected with dengue before they got the drug.
By Mr. Aquino’s percentages, then, “only” 83,000 (10 percent of 830,000) of the schoolchildren that were inoculated with Dengvaxia had not been infected with dengue before they got the drug. And of these, “only” 1,600 of them (0.2 percent of 83,000) would likely suffer from a severe infection.
The question we need to pose to Mr. Aquino and other members of his administration is this: Was it all right to put the lives of 1,600 children at risk? What would he say to the parents of those 1,600 children?
But we are assuming that Mr. Aquino’s numbers are accurate. Where, for example, did the WHO obtain its 0.2 percent figure? Was it based on any credible independent tests? Or did they come from the vaccine’s manufacturer, Sanofi Pasteur?
Also, given that the Health Department did no blood tests before administering the vaccine to the 830,000 children, where did the 10 percent figure come from? Was it a rough estimate? And if so, how credible is the estimate? Every 1 percent increase in this estimate would put the lives of 200 more children at risk.
Is that an acceptable risk? We think not.
What makes matters worse is that many credible health experts had warned against the use of Dengvaxia before Mr. Aquino approved its use in the Philippines.
In 2016, academics, scientists, and clinicians wrote to Mr. Aquino’s Health secretary, Janette Garin, warning her of a “real possibility of harm” and “systemic side effects in up to 57 percent of patients” that might result from the widespread use of the largely untested drug.
“This may cause a public furor, especially if any children die,” the letter warned prophetically.
Sadly, those warnings were largely ignored, and today, the Health Department said 11 out of 87 children who died after receiving at least one dose of Dengvaxia had dengue despite their vaccination.
In February, experts from the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH) reported three out of 14 cases they studied showed the children also died of dengue despite getting at least one shot of Dengvaxia.
No causal relationship has been proved as yet, but the circumstances are certainly a cause for concern.
Yet Mr. Aquino dismisses all this as hysteria and insists he did no wrong. Maybe 10 percent of the so-called Dengvaxia families will believe him—if he is lucky.
Suggesting some political motive, Mr. Aquino admits that he can’t help thinking that he might end up in jail, like his erstwhile Cabinet secretary, Senator Leila de Lima. We suggest, however, that this administration needs no political reason to throw Mr. Aquino in jail. His criminal negligence in the Dengvaxia mess ought to be enough.