PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte will form a panel of experts who will look into the government's anti-dengue vaccination program, Malacañang revealed Tuesday, May 8.
"The President, after much discussion, said he will create a three-man panel of experts -- all Asians (and) no Westerners -- and he will be bound by the findings of these three-man experts on the issue of whether or not Dengvaxia actually caused deaths," Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. told Palace reporters.
He said members of the panel would have to be foreigners who are disinterested in the Dengvaxia mess and have no ties to the Philippines and Dengvaxia maker Sanofi Pasteur.
Duterte made the decision after the findings of doctors from the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH) differed from those of the Public Attorney's Office (PAO) on the effects of the anti-dengue vaccine Dengvaxia, Roque said.
"With conflicting testimonies from the experts from PAO and the UP-PGH, he (Duterte) is constrained to seek further advice from these interested parties. And that is why he requested that the panel of experts should be foreigner, should have no links absolutely with the Philippine government and Sanofi," he said.
"The President wants clearer scientific finding that's why he will form this three-man panel of experts to determine what must be done, in connection with this Dengvaxia (mess)," he added.
The government suspended in December 2017 its anti-dengue immunization program after Sanofi revealed recent findings which showed the their vaccine poses greater risk of severe dengue in seronegative individuals, or those who have not contracted the dengue virus prior to inoculation.
Experts from the UP-PGH and PAO have presented different results of separate investigations.
The PAO's findings revealed "strong links" between Dengvaxia and the death of children who received the vaccine. The UP-PGH, on the other hand, said the deaths could not be attributed to Dengvaxia.
"The problem of the President is although there is a finding of a PAO expert and there is the UP-PGH panel of experts' finding, as a lawyer and a former prosecutor, he (Duterte) knows that expert witnesses can cancel out each other's testimonies," the Palace official said.
"So here comes an expert witness from PGH, saying that the deaths could not be attributed to Dengvaxia. And here comes an expert witness from PAO saying it is in fact attributable to Dengvaxia. So the effect is they cancel out each other. So it seems that [their findings] have no value," he added.
Over 830,000 people have received Dengvaxia since it was launched under the administration of then president Benigno Aquino III. (SunStar Philippines)