House grills Sanofi; Aquino to face Senate

A PARTY-LIST congressman, in the House of Representatives’ first inquiry into the Dengvaxia controversy, has demanded an apology from Sanofi Pasteur, not for injecting Filipino children with the dengue vaccine, but for issuing a “reckless” and “tactless” advisory that has caused alarm.

But even as the congressional inquiries have turned up the heat on the French manufacturer and past Philippine officials amid the controversy over Sanofi’s Dengvaxia vaccine, President Rodrigo R. Duterte, for his part, expressed openness, giving the benefit of the doubt to officials of the previous Aquino administration that approved the administration of the vaccine on more than 830,000 children nationwide.

Mr. Duterte’s predecessor, Benigno S.C. Aquino III, is scheduled to appear today before the Senate’s continuing inquiry into this controversy.

On Wednesday, during the joint hearing on Dengvaxia conducted by the House committee on good government and public accountability and the committee on health, SAGIP Party-list Representative Rodante D. Marcoleta asked Sanofi Pasteur Asia-Pacific head Thomas Triomphe: “Did it occur to you that such kind of a statement or advisory ha(s) caused sleepless nights, emotional distress and other similar emotional insecurities to our people? Did you realize that it could publicly alarm people?”

Mr. Marcoleta was referring to Sanofi’s statement to the effect that inoculated patients who have not had dengue were prone to the disease after vaccination.

Mr. Triomphe said he understood, which was why he was in the hearing to clarify it.

“But the damage is already done,” Mr. Marcoleta said. “You are so reckless in your statement. You’re very indifferent. You’re so inconsiderate as if you can casually play on the lives of our people.”

Mr. Triomphe eventually apologized for the confusion, and again said that he was there to clarify the matter. “I do apologize indeed if there was misunderstanding in this communication,” he said.

For his part, Senator Richard J. Gordon, who leads the Senate inquiry, said in a statement on Wednesday, affirming an earlier view by observers in this controversy, that he sees a “conspiracy” in the government’s procurement of P3.5-billion Dengvaxia vaccines because the budget for the procurement was not even part of the General Appropriations Act (GAA).

But Mr. Duterte, for his part, in an interview with reporters on Wednesday afternoon, said:

“Look, if I were the President and there’s a… vaccine that was already paid for, and the studies show that (the) company,...I, as President, would al — ako rin,

sabihin ko (me too, I would say), ‘You implement it if it would save lives.’” — report by interaksyon.com with Rosemarie A. Zamora and Arjay L. Balinbin