City lawyer, 4 others file damages vs. DOH officials
CEBU City Hall lawyer Lyndon Basan and four others have filed a damage suit in court against the Department of Health (DOH), two former health secretaries, and the manufacturer of Dengvaxia.
Basan asked the Regional Trial Court to direct the respondents to award them damages for being “grossly negligent and reckless” when they aggressively pushed the controversial dengue vaccine to the market.
Apart from Basan, the other petitioners are his former wife, Jacqueline Geraldizo, son Keith Lyndon Basan, daughter Kathleen Mae Basan, and one Genevalyn Daquipil.
Named defendants are Sanofi-Aventis Philippines, Inc. the manufacturer of Dengvaxia; the Department of Health, and former health secretaries Janette Garin and Paulyn Ubial.
In June 2015, Garin negotiated with Sanofi to reduce the cost of buying the dengue vaccines.
On Oct. 29, 2015, Sanofi applied at the DOH for Dengvaxia to be included in the list of drugs to be carried by all pharmacies in the Philippines, pending approval by the Food and Drug Administration.
In December 2015, Garin submitted a proposal to the budget department to buy three million doses of Dengvaxia. She then hosted a nationwide launch of Dengvaxia in February 2016.
Garin, along with Sanofi, later conducted mass vaccination of children and adults, but without giving them any information as to its side-effects. When Ubial was appointed health secretary, she continued the mass vaccination in October 2017.
Basan and her family members received the vaccination at the Cebu City Health Office on Oct. 27, 2017.
In November 2017, Sanofi announced that Dengvaxia is not an effective anti-dengue virus, and its effect is worse than the disease it was supposed to prevent.
In December 2017, the World Health Organization clarified that it never recommended the Dengvaxia vaccine for various countries’ immunization programs.
“The feelings of hopes and expectations of the plaintiffs vanished and quickly changed to frustration and hopelessness,” the petitioners said.
Excluding Keith Lyndon, Basan said they all never had previous dengue infections.
“Because of the vaccine, plaintiffs have unknowingly exposed themselves to the higher probability of having severe dengue infection, or other deadly diseases,” the complaint read.
The petitioners asked the court to order each respondent to pay them P100,000 as moral damages; P100,000 as exemplary; and 50,000 as compensatory damages. They are also seeking for “lifetime support and full medical assistance” from the DOH and Sanofi for any illness that they may get as a result of their dengue vaccination. (GMD)