Sanofi slammed for French advisory on Dengvaxia in overseas regions

SENATOR Richard J. Gordon slammed a representative of Dengvaxia manufacturer Sanofi Pasteur over an earlier advisory to France’s overseas territories against the use of the dengue vaccine.

According to news reports, an agency of the French health ministry had recommended in 2016 against the use of the Dengvaxia vaccine in France’s overseas territories, the Carribean islands of La Martinique and Guadeloupe as well as French Guiana in the South American continent, due to health risks linked to the vaccine.

“If you cannot use it in Europe, why should we use it here? You guys have objected (to) my term guinea pigs. We are guinea pigs. We are laboratory rats. And people died,” Mr. Gordon said, addressing Sanofi Pasteur Asia-Pacific head Thomas Triomphe at Wednesday’s resumption of the hearing on the Dengvaxia controversy by the Senate blue ribbon committee.

Mr. Triomphe clarified that the body did not recommend the vaccine while it was under review by European health regulators.

“They don’t recommend the usage before the license because the product has been submitted for review....They’re saying, ‘Let’s wait for the license and use it with a license,’” he told senators.

For his part, Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III said he had ordered health officials to convince families to avail themselves of common vaccines following a decline in the immunization coverage in certain regions due to the Dengvaxia controversy.

“My order to the DoH officials was to never stop and never give up, if they had to convince every family to let the DoH (Department of Health) give them vaccines for their children,” Mr. Duque said.

He cited the immunization coverage in the Zamboanga Peninsula as having dropped from 73% to 63% as parents refused to have their children avail themselves of common vaccines for measles and mumps due to fears brought about by the Dengvaxia controversy.

He also noted other factors to the decline, such as sickness and cultural belief against vaccines.

But Mr. Duque also said the immunization coverage in the Davao Region has slowly picked up after his orders to regional health officials.

He also stressed the importance of the Health department’s expanded immunization program, noting that about three million to five million lives were saved due to the vaccines.

The DoH has also launched several information campaigns on the safety of vaccines under the immunization program, which covers vaccine-preventable diseases such as hepatitis, rotavirus and tetanus. —