DOH gets House leader’s support on Dengvaxia indemnity fund

Surigao del Sur 2nd District Rep. Johnny Pimentel on Sunday pressed French multinational pharmaceutical company Sanofi S.A. to heed the request of the Department of Health (DOH) to put up a reserve fund for Filipino families that could potentially fall ill because of its faulty anti-dengue vaccine.

“It is high time for Sanofi to comply with Health Secretary Francisco Duque’s request for an indemnity fund to pay for the treatment of Filipino school children rendered sick after receiving Dengvaxia shots,” said Pimentel, chairman of the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability.

The Mindanao lawmaker made this remark ahead of his panel’s reopening of the House of Representatives probe on the Aquino administration’s 2015 purchase of 13.5 billion worth of Dengvaxia vaccines Monday.

It will take place amid the backdrop of mounting cases of Dengvaxia-related hospitalizations, and in extreme instances, deaths among Filipino children. “This will be our first hearing since Sanofi released the negative findings of its long-term follow-up study which showed that children who never had dengue but who were given the shots had an increased risk of a severe case and hospitalization from the third year after immunization,” Pimentel said.

House Senior Deputy Minority Leader and Buhay Party-list Rep. Lito Atienza filed the new resolution enabling the reopening of the inquiry.

Pimentel earlier warned that officials found liable for the botched purchase of Dengvaxia shots are bound to face graft charges for a transaction “that may be deemed manifestly and grossly disadvantageous to the government.”

The House leader said graft charges may be warranted against the officials involved even if they did not make any money from the transaction.

“Under the law, officials may be held accountable for corrupt and unlawful acts, such as entering into highly injurious purchase contracts, without any need to establish that they profited from the transaction,” Pimentel said.

Under the administration of Benigno C. Aquino III and Health Secretary Janet Garin, the Philippines launched in April 2016 the anti-dengue vaccination program using Dengvaxia.

The DOH has since suspended the anti-dengue immunization drive after Sanofi conceded that Dengvaxia could worsen symptoms for vaccinated children who contracted the disease for the first time.

More than 700,000 Filipino schoolchildren had already received their Dengvaxia shots by the time the DOH suspended the immunization drive.

Without admitting any wrongdoing, Sanofi in January reimbursed the DOH the amount of 11.16 billion for the unused doses of Dengvaxia.