VACC urges probe on alleged Dengvaxia-related deaths

This file photo taken on April 4, 2016, shows a nurse showing vials of the anti-dengue vaccine Dengvaxia, developed by French medical giant Sanofi, during a vaccination program at an elementary school in suburban Manila. AFP

The Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) has asked the Department of Justice (DOJ) to exhume and examine the bodies of three children believed to have died because of Dengvaxia, an anti-Dengue vaccine.

Dante Jimenez of VACC said the three from Bataan received the vaccine in April 2016.

“We are now here to request the Secretary [of Justice] to ask the NBI to conduct an exhumation [because] this is really serious,” Jimenez said at a press conference.

He said they were coordinating with affiliates in Region 3 to get further details of the three children.

Dr. Ruby Dizon, Sanofi Pasteur medical director, branded the report as “misinformation.”

In a press conference on Monday, Dizon said an independent expert committee had judged the deaths as “not related to the vaccinations.”

Sanofi Pasteur manufactures the Dengvaxia vaccine.

The VACC chair said he was coordinating with Health Secretary Francisco Duque III for the names of those who received the vaccine in Region 3, Region 4-A, and the National Capital Region.

Jimenez said these regions were centers of the “massive vaccination.” /cbb