Former President Benigno S. Aquino III and two former Cabinet officials were among those recommended to be charged in connection with the P3.4-billion Dengvaxia vaccine fiasco.
This was disclosed on Thursday by Sen. Joseph Victor G. Ejercito, chairman of the Senate Health Committee, which conducted the joint inquiry into the Dengvaxia controversy with the Blue Ribbon Committee, chaired by Sen. Richard J. Gordon.
Ejercito added that apart from Aquino, also likely to face charges for the inordinate rushing of the deal with French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi Pasteur are former Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad and Health Secretary Janette L. Garin.
According to Ejercito, the consensus reached by the two panel chairmen was to include in the joint committee report their findings that Aquino may be held liable for “command responsibility.”
The senator added the former Chief Executive cannot simply wash his hands to avoid liability for rushing the release of P3.5 billion to pay for the controversial vaccines feared to have endangered 830,000 children.
During the joint committee inquiry, Gordon and other senate probers took note of the timeline for buying the vaccine, recalling testimonies that Aquino twice met with Sanofi officials in China and Paris, saying this facilitated the process to purchase the controversial vaccines.
Apart from that, Ejercito said the committee is also recommending filing charges against Garin, whom the committee probers found to be liable for rushing the acquisition of the vaccine and the mass injection of children, despite the absence of guarantee that the vaccine was safe to inject to schoolage children.
Senate probers are also looking to recommend charges against Abad for technical malversation, following findings that the P3-billion fund used to pay for the vaccine was drawn from savings without authority from Congress.
Ejercito indicated the joint report on the inquiry may also include recommendation to indict Sanofi Pasteur for failing to disclose that Dengvaxia’s side effect may endanger children classified as “seronegative,” or have not had dengue.
Doctors welcome Halstead’s opinion
Meanwhile, the international dengue expert, recently concluded his testimony at the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee and consultations with the Department of Health and the World Health Organization Team.
Members of the Doctors for Truth welcomed his participation in the investigation for the reason that it would clarify with finality the different opinions and positions about Dengvaxia. “He is a voice of sanity for both parents and doctors alike,” according to Dr. Lulu Bravo, director of the National Institute of Health.
Halstead was intensely quizzed by the senators and clarified the issues on Dengvaxia.
“The diagnosis of Dengvaxia cannot be based on an autopsy,” which is contrary to the pronouncements of the PAO, which has been conducting autopsies and announcing these deaths to have been caused by Dengvaxia.
Haltstead debunked earlier pronouncements of Dr. Suzy Pineda-Mercado connecting neurotropism and viscerotropism. He said: “Neurotropism and Viscerotropism are not appropriate terms to use in relation to Dengvaxia. These are associated with yellow fever and not Dengue.” Halstead further emphasized: “Dengvaxia does not cause any illness.”
Two things have to be considered to conclude that the death of a vaccinated child is due to Dengvaxia: 1) the death or infection was caused by the dengue virus, which can be done by virus isolation or the identification of NS1; and 2) knowing if an individual is either seronegative or seropositive. However, the WHO says, there is no commercially available efficacious testing kits in the market to date. Halstead added that Dengvaxia is effective against dengue upon questioning from Sen. Joseph Victor G. Ejercito.
Dr. Minguita Padilla, an associate professor at the UP-PGH and a consultant at the St. Lukes Medical Center said: “some media outlets forgot to focus on these very important points. They were concentrating on the drama rather than importance of these medical findings based on empirical data that Halstead mentioned. These medical information should be disseminated to all the affected parents to stop the hysteria.”
1 comment
Circumstantial evidence or the totality of the evidence point to the dangerous imprudence of Aquino, et al. as the proximate cause of the undue injury suffered by the parents and the government and deaths associated with the administration of the Dengvaxia vaccine. Two principles may find application in here, namely, 1) “He who is the cause of the cause is the cause of the evil caused and 2) “The thing or transaction speaks for itself”.