Foreign expert sought to examine suspected Dengvaxia victims

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II will raise the need to bring into the country a foreign third party pathologist who will examine the bodies of children suspected to have died as a result of receiving the anti-dengue vaccine, Dengvaxia, at a meeting with President Duterte today.

“I am going to emphasize that we need a clinical patholo-

gist or an expert on the matter,” Aguirre told reporters.

He stressed that the expert should come from abroad with an impressive qualification.

The expert “will not be a Filipino,” he said, adding that the expert “will come from abroad who can establish definitely the linkage between the Dengvaxia and the death or injuries suffered by the students,” he explained.

Those who will be present at the meeting with the President are Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) Chief Persida Acosta, Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, and Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) Chairman Dante Jimenez.

Aguirre said he already raised the need for a foreign expert during his recent meeting with Roque and Duque in Malacañang.

“I impressed upon the two (Duque and Roque) na dapat merong opinion ng isang pathologist (there should be an opinion of a pathologist),” he said.

Aguirre recounted that Duque agreed that the bodies autopsied by the PAO forensics team led by Dr. Erwin Erfe have to be re-examined by a “clinical pathologist we can consider as an expert on this matter.”

“I think we are agreed na si Dr. Erfe is only a medico legal officer so ang kanyang opinion, if he made an opinion on the deaths from Dengvaxia, did not come from an expert opinion,” said Aguirre.

Despite this, the Secretary said that the PAO will still continue to conduct autopsies of suspected Dengvaxia victims.

Aguirre said that the report released by the Philippine General Hospital-Dengue Investigative Task Force (PGH-DITF) which is tasked by the Department of Health to also conduct an investigation cannot be relied upon.

“Yun ang kahinaan ng basis ng PGH doctors, hindi sila nag-examine ng actual tissue (they did not examine any actual tissue) because their report was only based on the report of Dr. Erfe,” he said.

The DITF’s review disclosed that only three of the 14 children autopsied by the PAO were due to dengue and two others might be caused by the vaccine’s failure. Appeal to parents Menwhile, Senator Nancy Binay on Wednesday appealed to parents to have their children vaccinated for preventable illnesses saying the chances of acquiring diseases are higher and the benefits of vaccination still outweigh the risks.

Binay said she is alarmed at the recent turn of events after the Department of Health (DOH) admitted that immunization rates have significantly dropped since the Dengvaxia scare.

According to DOH, immunization coverage of Filipino children, dropped to 60 percent from the ideal 85 percent to 90 percent.

The government suspended the sale and distribution of the anti-dengue vaccine in December 2018 after Sanofi Pasteur disclosed in November that Dengvaxia poses a risk to children who had not had dengue prior to being vaccinated.

“Nakikiusap po tayo sa mga magulang na huwag matakot at pabakunahan ang kanilang mga anak ( I am appealing to parents not to be afraid and have their children vaccinated),” Binay said.

As a mother, I understand the anxiety being felt by the public. But it is far dangerous if we do not have our children undergo immunization,” she said in Tagalog.

The senator also lamented how the Dengvaxia paranoia has affected even routine programs like the health department’s deworming program that have had “very low” turnout.

It’s sad to see that the other good programs of the DOH which has been tested safe and needed by the children are also affected),” she added.

The DOH’s Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) primarily targets six vaccine-preventable diseases namely tuberculosis, poliomyelitis, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis and measles.

Vaccines under the EPI are birth doses for hepatitis B and BGC, oral poliovirus vaccine, pentavalent vaccine (anti-measles, measles, mumps, rubella) and tetanus toxoid.

Sen. Richard J. Gordon, chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee, asked the public yesterday not to fear EPI.

“Vaccines included in the DOH’s EPI are safe. These vaccines have been tried and tested and they must be given to your children so they would not contract the diseases that the department’s programs are trying to prevent. I understand the fear triggered by the Dengvaxia mess but we should not let our fears cloud our better judgment. Avoid Dengvaxia; but let your children be inoculated with the other vaccines,” he said. (With reports from Hannah Torregoza and Mario Casayuran)