“Don’t blame us. We are just doing our job.”
This was the stern reaction by the Public Attorneys’ Office (PAO) in response to a published article that “blamed” the office and its head, lawyer Persida V. Rueda Acosta, for the delay in the arrival of the vaccines against the corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
PAO, an agency under the Department of Justice (DOJ), has been assisting families in the prosecution of those believed responsible for the deaths of persons inoculated with the anti-dengue Dengvaxia vaccine that is manufactured by French pharmaceutical firm Sanofi Pasteur.
It has autopsied a total of 161 dead persons who were reportedly inoculated with Dengvaxia vaccine.
In 2017, then Justice Seretary and now National Police Commission (Napolcom) Vice Chairman Vitaliano Aguirre II directed PAO to “extend free legal assistance in civil, criminal and administrative cases to all possible victims of Dengvaxia related injuries, illnesses and deaths.”
It was alleged that one of the delays in the arrival of COVID-19 vaccinees is the reported demand for protection by pharmaceutical firms concerning from the possible adverse effects of their products.
“Clearly, the Dengvaxia cases cannot be faulted because as shown... it has always been the thrust of vaccine manufacturers to lobby for indemnification programs granting them protection from lawsuits associated with vaccine-related adverse events, especially in the case of COVID-19 vaccines,” PAO said in a statement.
It said “the newspaper editorial blaming the PAO and the Chief Public Attorney for the ‘sudden’ demand by vaccine manufacturers for a vaccine injury indemnity mechanism and the delay in vaccine procurement is not only misleading but a ‘Fake News’ intended to derail the Philippines’ response to the C0VID-19 Pandemic.”
“Nevertheless, despite opposition attempts to politicize and discredit the government’s response to the pandemic, COVID-19 vaccines have arrived from China (Sinovac) and the Covax Facility (AstraZeneca), and hospitals have started vaccinating their healthcare frontliners,” it pointed out.