Duque, Garin, 39 others face new Dengvaxia raps at DOJ
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III and former Health Secretary and now Iloilo 1st District Representative Janette Garin face new complaints before the Department of Justice (DOJ) over their alleged accountability over those who received doses of the anti-dengue vaccine Dengvaxia including many who have died.
On behalf of the families of the victims, Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) Chief Persida Acosta filed on Wednesday, Nov. 25, 99 complaints concerning the deaths of 98 children and the suffering endured by a boy survivor.
“Pang-anim na batch (This is the sixth batch filed before the DOJ),” Acosta told reporters.
“For resolution na yung tatlo, yung dalawa na-file na (The three other batches are pending for resolution, while, the other two batches have already been filed in court),” she said.
In the complaints, the families accused the respondents of reckless imprudence resulting to homicide under the Revised Penal Code (RPC); torture of children and torture resulting the deaths in violation Republic Act 9745, the Act Penalizing Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment; violation of RA 7394, the Consumer Act of the Philippines; and for vaccination without the required prescription and dispensing without pharmacist approval in violation of RA10918, the Philippine Pharmacy Act.
Acosta said that Duque and Garin are not named in all of the complaints but only in those where the victims were inoculated when the Department of Health (DOH) were under their respective leadership.
Acosta said the complaints were filed after the parents of the victims subscribed last Tuesday, Nov. 24, before the Quezon CIty Prosecutor’s Office the authenticity of the complaints.
The PAO chief said all 99 victims had never had dengue prior receiving shots of the vaccine and have suffered the adverse effects of Dengvaxia including getting severe dengue.
“Meron tayong signs ng symptoms at common pattern. Bago sila bakunahan okay yung mga bata, walang sakit. Pero hindi sila nag-screen (They have common signs and symptoms. They were okay before they received the doses. They were not screened before getting the vaccine),” she said.
Acosta also identified the boy survivor as the son of Sumachen Dominguez, president of the Samahan ng mga Magulang, Anak at Biktima ng Dengvaxia.
“Yung anak ho niya tatlong beses binakunahan ng Dengvaxia. Walang screening, walang diagnostics test, pero na-ospital po at ang diagnosis po ay severe dengue (Her son received three doses of Dengvaxia. The boy did not undergo screen and diagnostic test but he got hospitalized for severe dengue),” she said.
“Muntik na po mamatay ang anak niya at hanggang ngayon po ay maraming medication ang anak niya (Her son almost died and up to now the boy is receiving a lot of medication),” Acosta lamented.
Aside from Duque and Garin, there 39 other persons named as respondents.
The respondents include officials from the DOH, namely, Dr. Vicente Belizario Jr., Dr. Kenneth Hartigan-Go, Dr. Gerardo Bayugo, Dr. Lyndon Lee Suy, Dr. Irma Asuncion, Dr. Julius Lecciones, Dr. Joyce Ducusin, Dr. Herminigildo Valle, Rosalind Vianzon, and Mario Baquilod.
Also named as respondents in the complaints are Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials Dr. Maria Lourdes Santiago and Melody Zamudio; Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) officials Drs. Socorro Lupisan and Maria Rosario Capeding; Dr. Sonia Gonzales of the Philippine Children’s Medical Center (PCMC); and Dr. Raymundo Lo, a former PCMC official.
Executives of Sanofi Pasteur, the maker of Dengvaxia, and local distributor Zuellig Pharma are also included as respondents.
Sanofi Pasteur executives named as respondents are Carlito Realuyo, Stanislas Camart, Jean Louis Grunwald, Jean-Francois Vacherand, Conchita Santos, Jazel Anne Calvo, Pearl Grace Cabali, and Marie Esther De Antoni.
Respondents from Zuellig Pharma are Kasigod Jamias, Michael Becker, Ricardo Romulo, Imran Babar Chugtai, Raymund Azurin, Nilo Badiola, John Stokes Davison, Marc Franck, Ashley Gerard Antonio, Ana Liza Peralta, Rosa Maria Chua, Danilo Cahoy, Manuel Concio III, Roland Goco, and Ma. Visitacion Barreiro.