Experts call on PAO to stop autopsies on suspected Dengvaxia-related deaths

A group of over one hundred doctors, scientists, health experts, and academicians has called on the Public Attorney's Office (PAO) to stop the autopsies on the children who died after supposedly receiving the Dengvaxia dengue vaccine.

According to a report on GMA News' "Balitanghali," the experts said that none of the 14 autopsies the PAO has done so far shows that the deaths to have been related to the Dengvaxia vaccine.

"None of the deaths of the 14 children autopsied were proven to be due to Dengvaxia. In fact, the deaths of 13 of them were totally unrelated to the vaccine," the statement was quoted as saying.

According to the statement, the autopsies would only subject the children's families to "torture."

"[I]t now appears that only 1 case might be causally associated with the vaccine. That is the one with dengue and with antibodies to dengue. However, it has yet to be determined if the vaccine had anything to do with the death," it read.

"It makes no sense for any more families to be subjected to the torture of having a loved one exhumed and cut up only to find out that no useful information was derived from the cruel act," it added.

For his part, PAO Forensic Division Chief Erwin Erpe said the autopsies were conducted at the request of the families.

PAO Chief Persida Acosta also said her office will only listen to higher government bodies such as the Department of Justice (DOJ), and not any private groups.

Sanofi Pasteur—the pharmaceutical company behind the Dengvaxia vaccine—last year advised against prescribing its product to those who have not been affected by dengue in the past, saying it may raise the risk of severe dengue for them in the long run.

The Department of Health said that at least 830,000 public school students were given the vaccine in Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Metro Manila, and Cebu under the government's dengue vaccination program. — Jon Viktor D. Cabuenas/BM, GMA News