THE possible revival of the Dengvaxia vaccination program amid rising dengue cases in the country will not absolve former Health secretary Janette Garin and others of wrongdoing due to deaths linked to the controversial vaccine, MalacaƱang said on Friday, August 2, 2019.
"A possible revival of Dengvaxia for those previously infected with dengue virus does not mean that pending cases against former officials involved in the issues surrounding the vaccine will be rendered moot," Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a statement.
"We will continue to leave this matter to courts of law as they decide the merits of the case," he added.
Panelo made the remark two days after saying that the Duterte administration was open on making Dengvaxia available again to the public, even after the controversial dengue vaccine had sown fear among Filipinos.
Garin on Wednesday, July 31, said the revival of the Dengvaxia program, launched during her stint at the Department of Health (DOH), is the only solution to stop the dengue outbreak in the country.
Data from the DOH showed that around 106,630 dengue cases were recorded nationwide from January 1 to June 29 this year.
The latest number of dengue cases is an 85 percent increase from the 57,564 cases reported over the same period in 2018.
The anti-dengue vaccination program was stopped in December 2017 after Dengvaxia maker, Sanofi Pasteur, warned that the controversial vaccine might increase the risk among recipients not previously infected by the mosquito-borne virus.
More than 800,000 children received Dengvaxia shots under the inoculation program launched under Garin's leadership in April 2016.
Criminal complaints have been slapped against Garin and several others in connection with deaths allegedly linked to the effects of Dengvaxia vaccine.
In February, the Department of Justice ruled on the first batch of Dengvaxia cases and indicted Garin and other former health officials in court for reckless imprudence resulting to homicide.
Panelo said the government would ensure that those responsible for the Dengvaxia mess would be held accountable.
"Politics must be set aside when the health of the citizenry is in peril. This administration will not sit idly and expect that a health concern will be resolved without any action on its part," the Palace official said.
"We have always acted with the best interest and welfare of the Filipinos in mind. We will do the same in this case," he added.
Panelo assured the public that, should the controversial anti-dengue vaccine drive be revived, the current administration would not commit the same mistake done by the previous administration.
He said the government would consider "with utmost caution" the opinion of the World Health Organization and other medical experts "who opine, among others, that the same should be given only to those who already had prior dengue experience."
"If Dengvaxia is proven effective to those who already had dengue in the past, then its application to these individuals will surely cause the decline of the overall number of cases of dengue which plague the residents of this country," he said.
"Nothing is final yet but we vow that we will not repeat the mistakes of the past, where Dengvaxia was allegedly misused and mishandled in aid of political election with haste," he added. (SunStar Philippines)