PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the creation of a three-member panel of Asian health experts to determine if the anti-dengue vaccine Dengvaxia was responsible for the deaths of several children injected with the vaccine, Malacañang said Tuesday.
Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said the President wanted to look into the safety concerns raised against Dengvaxia, the world’s first dengue vaccine.
The President will invite foreign pathologists to clarify the conflicting findings from the Philippine General Hospital and the Public Attorney Office in relation to the controversial dengue immunization program, Roque said.
‘‘With conflicting testimonies from the experts of PAO and the PGH, the President is constrained to seek further advice from disinterested parties.”
Roque made his statement even as the Commission on Audit said the Philippine Children’s Medical Center had conducted pre-procurement activities for a P3-billion Dengvaxia vaccination a month before the effectivity of a memorandum of agreement with the Department of Health.
“Pre-procurement activities were conducted before the effectivity of the date of the memorandum of agreement by and between the DoH and PCMC. The date of the MoA as earlier mentioned was Feb. 19, 2016 signed on the same date,” the commission said.
PCMC held a pre-procurement conference on Jan. 22, 2016, and posted an invitation to bid a day after. A pre-bid conference was conducted on Feb. 1, 2016, while the receipt of bids/bid opening and bid evaluation was done on Feb. 15, 2016.
A post-qualification was held Feb. 16, 2016.
Roque said the team of foreign experts would come from neighboring Asian countries and would “absolutely” have no links with the Philippine government and with Dengvaxia’s manufacturer, Sanofi Pasteur Inc.
“With conflicting testimonies from the experts from PAO and the PGH, he is constrained to seek further advice from disinterested parties, and that’s why he requested that the panel of experts should be foreign, should have no links absolutely with the Philippine government,” Roque said.
But Roque said the government was trying to find out if the vaccine was the cause of the deaths of several schoolchildren as claimed by the PAO.
“For now the President is waiting for a clearer scientific finding, and that’s why he is forming this three-man panel of experts to know what to do about this Dengvaxia issue,” Roque said.
He said the President already had a list of expert pathologists submitted to him by the Health department.
Meanwhile, Roque said President Rodrigo Duterte had expressed support for the PGH’s initiatives in providing assistance to the parents and families of the patients vaccinated with Dengvaxia.
