Panel to review deaths of 14 kids given Dengvaxia —DOH

An expert panel of doctors from the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital will review the cases of 14 children who were given the dengue vaccine Dengvaxia to see if their deaths were related to the controversial drug.

At a news forum, Health Undersecretary Rolando Enrique Domingo said that the Department of Health (DOH) had submitted the “complete case records” of the 14 Dengvaxia recipients, who died “for one cause or another” between April 2016 and December 2017.

The 14 children, aged nine to 11, were from Regions Central Luzon, Southern Tagalog, and Metro Manila—the target areas of the government’s school-based immunization program.

Not all of them died of dengue infection.

“[The expert panel is] expected to come up with a very, very objective appreciation of these cases and checking of their case records and give us an answer,” Domingo said.

Domingo didn't set a deadline for the doctors but said the results could be ready in “one to two weeks.”

The panel is expected to determine the following: the cause of each death, whether or not the cause of death was associated with the vaccination, and if so what the relation was.

The committee will be headed Dr. Juliet Sio-Aguilar, the chairperson of PGH's Department of Pediatrics. —NB, GMA News