The chairman of the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability last Sunday asked French multinational pharmaceutical company Sanofi SA to put up an indemnity fund to “secure Filipino families against any loss or financial burden suffered due to its faulty anti-dengue vaccine.”
Rep. Johnny T. Pimentel of the Second District of Surigao del Sur, the panel chairman, made a statement after his committee reopens its probe on Dengvaxia issue on Monday. The committee will reopen its inquiry into the previous administration’s 2015 purchase of some P3.5 billion worth of Dengvaxia vaccines.
According to Pimentel, there were reported mounting cases of Dengvaxia-related hospitalization and in extreme instances, deaths among Filipino children.
“It is high time for Sanofi to comply with Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III’s request for an indemnity fund to pay for the treatment of Filipino school children rendered sick after receiving Dengvaxia shots,” Pimentel said.
“This will be our first hearing since Sanofi released the negative findings of its long-term follow-up study, which showed that children who never had dengue but who were given the shots had an increased risk of a severe case and hospitalization from the third year after immunization,” he added.
Graft
Pimentel said officials found liable for the botched purchase of Dengvaxia shots are bound to face graft charges for a transaction “that may be deemed manifestly and grossly disadvantageous to the government.”
The lawmaker added graft charges may be warranted against the officials involved even if they did not make any money for themselves from the transaction.
“Under the law, officials may be held accountable for corrupt and unlawful acts, such as entering into highly injurious purchase contracts, without any need to establish that they profited from the transaction,” he said.
Under the administration of former President Benigno S. Aquino III and Health Secretary Janet Garin, the Philippines became the first country in the world to launch in April 2016 a public inoculation plan against dengue using Dengvaxia.