Duterte wants refund for Dengvaxia

President Rodrigo Duterte wants French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi Pasteur to refund the government P3.5 billion for the “concealment” of the possible adverse effects of its antidengue vaccine, Malacañang said on Tuesday.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said Sanofi failed to inform the government that children who had not been infected with dengue and were vaccinated with Dengvaxia might still “acquire the disease three to six years after vaccination.”

“He wants a refund of what we had paid because there was concealment of a material fact and that is that children who have not developed dengue may acquire the disease three to six years after vaccination,” Roque said in a press briefing.

This was not a “known fact’’ when the government decided to embark on the vaccination program, he added.

Sanofi officials, appearing at the Senate inquiry into the fiasco on Monday, stood by the safety and efficacy of Dengvaxia.

At the same time, the President was waiting for the results of the Department of Justice and Senate investigations into the vaccine fiasco to determine the culpability of people behind it, Roque said.

“He has promised that after investigations … have been conducted both by the Senate and the Department of Justice, that he will run after all individuals who may have criminal culpability for this,” he said.

Mr. Duterte was standing by the Department of Health’s recommendation to hold Sanofi responsible for it, and the refund would be the least thing the drug company could do, Roque said.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III has vowed to seek a refund of about P3.5 billion spent for the antidengue vaccine and asked Sanofi to set up a fund to cover hospital bills racked up by individuals who would suffer from a severe case of dengue after getting the vaccine shots.

The government last week suspended the dengue immunization program after Sanofi disclosed that it could cause severe symptoms in people who have had no previous exposure to the mosquito-borne virus.