Punish ‘brains’ behind vaccine fiasco – bishop

Bishop Ruperto Santos (Photo from a video of the Diocese of Balanga)

Amid the deaths of several children administered with the Dengvaxia dengue vaccine, a Catholic bishop has called on the government to ensure that those responsible for the fiasco should not go unpunished.

“We renew our ardent call to continue the Senate hearings, produce unbiased and truthful results, prosecute and punish the guilty,” Balanga Bishop Ruperto Santos said on Monday, citing the death of 11-year-old Alexander Jayme, a resident of Bataan, who died of septic shock on Jan. 4.

Santos also appealed to the government not to abandon the more than 830,000 schoolchildren vaccinated with the antidengue vaccine manufactured by Sanofi Pasteur.

“Help and heal them. Let us build up their future,” Santos said.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque on Monday said the government was just waiting for the result of the investigation of the P3.5-billion antidengue campaign before taking the next step.

Pursuing charges

But he assured that the government was bent on pursuing charges against those who would be found liable in the immunization program.

“Charges will be filed against those who needed to be sued after the investigation,” Roque told Davao reporters in a text message.

The controversy began in November last year, when Sanofi Pasteur admitted
that its vaccine may increase the risk of severe dengue in those who had no prior dengue infections.

Surveillance

This prompted the Department of Health (DOH) to suspend its antidengue vaccination program and to conduct surveillance and care for the schoolchildren who received the vaccine.

Most of the vaccinated children were from Metro Manila, Central Luzon and Calabarzon regions.

The DOH said the clinical records of 26 children who
had received at least a dose of the antidengue vaccine and died have been forwarded
to the Philippine General Hospital, which is helping in the investigation.

The Public Attorney’s Office, for its part, is conducting independent autopsies of children who were inoculated with Dengvaxia.

Santos said that the controversy had cast “unending anxiety and worry” on the part of parents of children who were given the vaccine.

“It is the children who should be protected, not to be experimented or sacrificed, to be taken good care of and not to be used or abused,” the bishop said.