Hontiveros questions Acosta’s moral conscience to account for vaccine scare

Senator Risa Hontiveros. CATHY MIRANDA / INQUIRER.net photo

MANILA, Philippines — “Amid the outbreak of disease, deaths, obfuscation and lies, does Acosta have the moral conscience to hold herself accountable for her actions?”

This is what opposition Senator Risa Hontiveros said on Wednesday after slamming Acosta’s “attempt to deflect public outrage” over her role on the public’s loss of trust on vaccines.

Acosta earlier claimed that a Commission on Audit report shows an under-distribution of measles vaccines from 2014 to 2017 and that vaccination in the country was on the decline even before the Dengvaxia issue.

“Acosta is desperately clutching at straws. Naghasik ng takot at kalituhan, ngayon naman, pilit nagpapalusot,” Hontiveros said in a statement.

Hontiveros noted that the vaccination coverage rates for the Department of Health’s (DOH) Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) in 2018 was significantly down from the steady numbers the DOH had achieved in the past years.

“DOH data shows that for the 1st dose of the measles vaccine, the coverage rate estimates for 2018 sharply fell to around 56 percent compared to around 70 percent in 2017, [about] 75 percent in 2016, and 79 percent in 2015,” the senator said.

She also cited a study from  London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), which showed vaccine confidence dropped to 32 percent in 2018 as opposed to the 93 percent in 2015.

The senator said that “vaccinations were steady” but due to “Acosta and her ilk’s vicious campaign of disinfomation and pseudo-science,” the public trust in vaccines has eroded.

“This situation has now put communities at risk for outbreaks of vaccine preventable diseases,” she said.

Hontiveros earlier urged Acosta to resign her post for “scaremongering” during her “politically-motivated investigations” on Dengvaxia issue.

READ: Hontiveros to Acosta: ‘Resign your post’

She said that a resignation is a “test of good conscience,” putting in question whether Acosta has the moral conscience to hold herself accountable for her actions.

“While resignation is a personal decision, it is also a test of good conscience. Amid the outbreak of disease, deaths, obfuscation and lies, does Acosta have the moral conscience to hold herself accountable for her actions?” Hontiveros said. /jpv