With help from the Public Attorney’s Office, parents of about 160 children filed separate criminal charges against former Health Secretary now congresswoman Janette L. Garin, and other former and current officials of the Department of Health, Food and Drug Administration, Philippine Children’s Medical Center and Research Institute for Tropical Medicine before the Department of Justice.
In November 2017, Sanofi Pasteur Inc., the manufacturer of the Dengvaxia vaccine, said dengue-naïve people who received the vaccine could be vulnerable to more severe infections.
Earlier, the Panel of Prosecutors who conducted the preliminary investigation on the deaths of children allegedly linked to the administration of the Dengvaxia vaccine has found probable cause to indict Garin and nine other DoH officials, along with officials of the Food and Drug Administration, RITM and Sanofi, for reckless imprudence resulting to homicide.
In its 127-page Resolution dated 11 February 2019 and officially released on 27 February 2019, the Panel found Garin and the other respondents to have exhibited an “inexcusable lack of precaution and foresight” when they facilitated, with undue haste, “the registration and purchase of Dengvaxia” and used the vaccine in implementing a school-based dengue mass immunization program.
The panel found sufficient evidence that Garin and the other respondents circumvented various regulations in the purchase of P3.5 billion worth of Dengvaxia vaccine which constituted proof of their reckless imprudence.
Meanwhile, the relatives of eight children whose deaths were linked to the Dengvaxia vaccine flocked to the Quezon City Regional Trial Court during the presentation of their last witness, Dr. Erwin Erfe.
Sumachen Dominguez, Samahan ng mga Magulang Anak at Biktima ng Dengvaxia president, and the other parents were accompanied by members of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption.
On Monday, Erfe, Public Attorney’s Office forensics chief, went through an intense cross-examination, the hearing before the sala of Branch 229 Judge Maria Luisa Leslie Gonzales-Betic started at 9 a.m. and ended at 7 p.m.