PAO chief Acosta: Claims of no deaths related to Dengvaxia are lies

Public Attorney's Office chief Persida Acosta on Tuesday said those who are claiming that there have been no Dengvaxia-related deaths of dengue victims are liars.

In a press conference, Acosta presented the parents of 10-year-old Anjielica Pestilos and 11-year-old Christine Mae De Guzman, who both died due to severe dengue months after receiving the world’s first dengue vaccine.

“Sinungaling sila sa sinasabi nilang walang namatay kahit nasaksakan ng Dengvaxia. May namatay. Ito nga dalawa. Marami pang ibang [victims] pero on process pa [by PAO],” Acosta told GMA News Online, referring to those who claimed there have been no dengue deaths due to Dengvaxia.

Acosta said the parents only want those responsible for the deaths of their children to be held accountable.

“Nakakainis na. Nanay din ako. Na-dengue na rin buong pamilya ko. Buti na lang hindi nabakunahan,” she said.

De Guzman’s father, Nelson, earlier said Christine, who had no history of dengue infection, developed severe headache and fever on Oct. 11, 2016, was rushed to the Bataan General Hospital on October 14, and died on October 15.

She received the first Dengvaxia shot in April 2016 when the vaccination program of the Department of Health (DOH) was launched.

Nelson said that they have documents proving that his daughter received the Dengvaxia vaccine before she contracted dengue.

Pestilos, meanwhile, died last December 6. She also had no previous exposure to dengue.

“When we reviewed her clinical abstract, there is a manifestation that Anjielica died of severe hemorrhagic dengue,” said PAO Forensic Laboratory director Dr. Erwin Erfe.

Erfe said Pestilos had edema, rashes, bleeding and low platelet count.

Sanofi Pasteur, which manufactured Dengvaxia, had said that the dengue vaccine "does not contain any viruses that can make people ill with dengue or severe dengue."

It said that a "subsequent exposure" to the virus will cause "severe dengue" which the firm said was not deadly.

Acosta, meanwhile, announced that Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II has authorized her office to assist victims arising from the administration of the Dengvaxia dengue vaccine to schoolchildren.

Aguirre issued Department Order 792 on December 12 authorizing and directing the PAO, through Acosta, to extend free legal assistance in civil, criminal, and administrative cases to all possible Dengvaxia-related injuries, illnesses and deaths.

Acosta said her office is ready to comply with Aguirre’s directive.

The DOH stopped the government's dengue immunization program last December 1 following Sanofi Pasteur’s admission that Dengvaxia's use must be strictly limited due to evidence it can worsen the disease in people who have not previously been exposed to dengue.

According to the DOH, more than 830,000 children — aged 9 and above — from public schools in Metro Manila, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, and Cebu were vaccinated with Dengvaxia.

Following the suspension, the DOH said it would evaluate the dengue vaccination program and is now working in close coordination with the Department of Education to monitor the thousands of students who have been administered with Dengvaxia. —ALG, GMA News