PAO to finish own Dengvaxia probe soon

The Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) would soon wrap up its forensic examination on the bodies of nine children who died after being immunized with anti-dengue vaccine Dengvaxia.

This was revealed by PAO chief Persida Rueda-Acosta on Friday, as they are set to meet with the families of the children to discuss the findings of their forensic exam and consolidate their reports, which would support their investigation into the controversy.

“Magmi-meeting ang experts (The experts will meet) for clinical and theoretical analysis of the manifest signs and symptoms, manifestations ng bata nung buhay pa (of the child when he was still alive). And then ico-correlate po ‘yan dun sa (Then they will correlate it to the) actual and practical [findings] doon sa cadaver ng bata (on the child’s cadaver),” she said.

Acosta said that PAO would soon release its findings once the agency gets all the documents.

She reiterated that it was a mistake to administer the vaccine, which was still under clinical trial, to a massive number of children without screening. She again cited the case of a child from Bagac, Bataan who died 10 days after being vaccinated with Dengavaxia.

Acosta said the child was sick with fever when vaccinated.

“’Kaya po yung nagsasabi na kami raw ay mali kasi hindi naman lahat ay namatay, e bakit gusto niyo lahat mamatay? Ang iba diyan ay exposed na po sa dengue virus kaya hindi namamatay, naagapan lang,” Acosta said.

(That’s why those who said that we are wrong because not all those who were vaccinated died, why, do you want all of them to die? Some of them were already exposed to dengue virus that is why they were treated.)

In November 2017, vaccine manufacturer Sanofi Pasteur admitted that Dengvaxia may cause severe symptoms of dengue to people who were administered with the vaccine even without prior dengue infection.

The discovery has prompted the government to suspend its anti-dengue immunization program, which was launched in three highly endemic regions—Metro Manila, Central Luzon and Calabarzon— and involved about 800,000 public school children aged nines years and above. Those children mostly received the initial of three doses of Dengvaxia, the first licensed anti-dengue vaccine in the world.

A joint committee of the Senate has been conducting its investigation into the controversy, and is set to hold its fourth hearing on Monday to determine the circumstances that led to the procurement of the vaccine.         /kga