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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Garin: Vaccine hesitancy to cease if Dengvaxia issue gets resolved once and for all 

Garin: Vaccine hesitancy to cease if Dengvaxia issue gets resolved once and for all 

Published Apr 1, 2024 09:09 am

At A Glance

  • Answering the question of whether or not Dengvaxia claimed lives of vaccinees in the country is key to getting rid of vaccine hesitancy among Filipinos, ssys House Deputy Majority Leader Iloilo 1st district Rep. Janette Garin.

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A medical professional administers a Covid-19 vaccine (Mark Balmores/ MANILA BULLETIN)


Answering the question of whether or not Dengvaxia claimed lives of vaccinees in the country is key to getting rid of vaccine hesitancy among Filipinos.

Thus, said House Deputy Majority Leader Iloilo 1st district Rep. Janette Garin on Monday, April 1 as she chimed on the pertussis outbreak.

Garin, a former Department of Health (DOH) secretary, expressed frustration over the situation on pertussis since she felt that it could have easily been prevented through vaccination.

However, the vaccination rate in the country has dropped to a mere 32 percent, no thanks to the scare that resulted from the country’s use of the French-made Dengue vaccine, Dengvaxia.

"We should address the elephant in the room. Dapat matuldukan siya. Talaga bang may mga namatay dahil sa dengue vaccine or wala?" answered Garin when asked how the prevailing vaccine hesitancy among Filipinos could be reversed.

(This has to be resolved. Did people really die from the dengue vaccine or not?)

It was during Garin's watch as DOH chief in 2016--under the Aquino administration--that Dengvaxia was administered to hundreds of thousands of Filipino schoolchildren.

The DOH subsequently suspended the anti-dengue immunization drive after Sanofi Pasteur, the manufacturer, admitted that Dengvaxia could worsen symptoms for vaccinated children who contracted the disease for the first time. By then, over 700,000 kids have already been vaccinated.

"Just to be transparent kasi mahirap naman baka sabihin yung tinatago ko. Alam niyo naman lahat na ako ay kasama dun sa nakasuhan sa dengue vaccine. At ang daming fina-file na kaso na hindi kami nabibigyan ng kopya specifically iyung nasa Department of Justice (DOJ). Mabuti nga ngayon na kapag kami ay pumupunta doon ay talagang nae-entertain," Garin said.

(I don't want you to think that I'm hiding this. You all know that I was among those who were charged in connection with the dengue vaccine. And there are many cases, particularly from the DOJ, that we are not being furnished copies of. But it's a good thing now that we get entertained when we go there.)

Garin continued: "Dapat matuldukan iyong issue na meron bang namatay because of the vaccine or wala ba. Kung merong namatay dapat may managot at ikulong, kung ano ang dapat gawin duon sa mga perpetrators, kung meron."

(The issue on whether or not the vaccine led to deaths must be resolved. If there are confirmed deaths, then the perpetrators, if any, must be held accountable and jailed.)

"Kung wala naman at nakikitang wala, huwag nang i-delay nang i-delay, ipa-inhibit nang ipa-inhibit yung mga judges na at the end of the day mas dumadagdag duon sa pangamba ng ating mga magulang," she said.

(But if there are none, then the delays must stop, the moves to inhibit the judges must stop since at the end of the day these only add to the anxiety of the parents.)

Without admitting to any wrongdoing, Sanofi in January 2018 reimbursed the government of P1.16 billion for its unused doses of Dengvaxia.

Related Tags

Janette Garin department of health Dengvaxia vaccine hesitancy Pertussis
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