Palace: Duterte to run after all criminally liable for Dengvaxia mess

President Rodrigo Duterte will run after all individuals who will be found after investigation criminally responsible for the use of the questioned vaccine Dengvaxia in the immunization of hundreds of thousands of school children.

Presidential spokesman Secretary Harry Roque, however, said Duterte was already adopting the position of the Department of Health to hold French pharmaceutical firm Sanofi Pasteur liable for the rollout of Dengvaxia in the country.

"He has promised that after investigation.. has been or have been conducted both by the Senate and the Department of Justice... that he will run after all individuals who may have criminal culpability for this ‘no," Roque said.

"Meanwhile, he stands by the recommendation of the DOH to hold Sanofi responsible," he added.

Roque said that Malacañang would also want a refund, as suggested by Health Secretary Francisco Duque III.

"We want, by way of mere—by way of minimum, a refund of what we have paid already for the Dengvaxia. That’s the declaration already of the DOH Secretary ‘no," Roque said.

"He wants a refund of what we had paid because there was concealment of a material fact and that is that children who have not developed dengue may acquire the disease three to six years after the vaccination," he added.

"That was not a known fact when government decided to embark on the vaccination program," Roque said.

The DOH launched its immunization program in April 2016, and over 800,000 public school students received doses of the vaccine, which is administered in three shots six months apart.

Sanofi on November 29 announced that while Dengvaxia "provides persistent protective benefit" against dengue in people who had prior infection, severe forms of the disease could occur following vaccination in those not previously infected by the dengue virus.

The DOH stopped its immunization program on December 1, and the Food and Drug Administration suspended sales of the vaccine on December 4. —NB, GMA News