PAO examines dead Ecija boy injected with Dengvaxia

GUIMBA, NUEVA ECIJA — The Public Attorney’s Office examined the remains of a 13-year-old boy on the night before his burial on Wednesday, after learning he was earlier injected with the anti-dengue vaccine, Dengvaxia.

Marlon Jay Lorenzo of Barangay Nagpandayan died from heart failure on May 15, and his medical records show he had previously suffered congestive heart disease and pneumonia, according to the rural health unit here.

But Dr. Erwin Erfe, PAO forensics chief, said the boy had brain hemorrhage and enlarged organs which were discovered in an autopsy sought by his parents.

PAO claims the same physical conditions were present in other children, who died after being vaccinated with Dengvaxia. Its manufacturer, French pharmaceutical Sanofi, had warned this year that the vaccine should not be given to people who were never infected with the disease.

PAO chief Persida Acosta, who supervised the procedure, said Lorenzo’s family requested the autopsy because the boy received two shots of Dengvaxia on April 26, 2016 and again on Oct. 26, 2017.

Lorenzo was treated at the Paulino J. Garcia Memorial Research and Medical Center in Cabanatuan City in June and again in September last year for headaches, back pains, and severe fever.

A consistent honor student until he graduated from grade school in April, Lorenzo had never been sickly until he was vaccinated, a relative said during the boy’s funeral. /je