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Garin insists: No undue haste in Dengvaxia procurement


Former Health secretary Janette Garin on Thursday denied claims there was undue haste in the Aquino administration's procurement of Dengvaxia vaccine from Sanofi Pasteur and the implementation of the anti-dengue mass immunization program.

In an interview on Dobol B sa News TV, Garin said that as early as 2010 there had been talks on the need of a dengue vaccine, after cases of infections in the country shot up to 150 percent.

“Kelan ba pinag-usapan ang dengue vaccine? The first meeting was way back in 2010," she said.

"Noong 2011 yung unang pagpulong, pagpiprisinta ni Secretary (Enrique) Ona, ang dami na pong naging meetings. Nagkaroon ng meeting July, August, and September kung saan nag-reveal ‘yung Sanofi Pasteur sa kanilang pagtatapos sa clinical trial at ipinakita yung Asia report at Latin American report,” she added.

She said that the Philippine record of dengue incidents in 2010 was used by the World Health Organization to come up with a global dengue strategy to reduce mortality and morbidity.

In September 2014, she said, Ona had a press conference announcing the availability of dengue vaccine and its entry to the public health program.

“Unfortunately during that time,  Sanofi was not cooperating dahil nga wala pang presyo,” she said.

According to her, the timeline used by Blue Ribbon committee chairman Senator Richard Gordon in the hearings started from the time Sanofi had a courtesy call with former President Benigno Aquino III in 2014 and did not take into consideration previous meetings.

At that time, the Aquino administration did not want to be accused of not doing anything against dengue when there is an available vaccine.

“Nakakakonsensiya na may available na bakuna tapos wala kang ginawa. Halos 80 percent ng nagkakaroon ng dengue ay walang symptoms, kapag ikaw ay nagkasakit ng dengue, the next dengue infection would always be fatal,” she said.

She said they did not conduct a test on those who are set to receive Dengvaxia because there is no commercially available efficacious test in the market.

“May existing test pero hindi ito reliable dahil magpo-positive ka sa kahit anong sakit na dala ng lamok, hindi lang dengue.” 

Garin said she empathizes with the parents of children who received Dengvaxia as her own child and relatives were also recipients of the vaccine.

“Nakakalungkot kasi. I empathize with the parents pero mas masakit na may vested interest na naglalaro ng emosyon nila. Hindi ko alam ang kanilang vested interest at ano ang gusto nilang iparating,” she said.

She did not mention who these people with vested interests were.

The former health secretary said she welcomes the charges filed against them.

“Sa korte mas maliwanag na pinapakinggan ang ebidesiya.” 

Last Wednesday, she  alleged that the Senate blue ribbon committee draft report was one-sided, full of inaccuracies, and half-truths as [Senator] Gordon already prejudged the Dengvaxia procurement issue from the very start. 

Gordon said that Garin, ex-President Benigno Aquino III, ex-Budget secretary Florencio Abad, and other officials are primary conspirators and must be held criminally liable and must be prosecuted for all the tragedy, damage, and possible deaths resulting from the Dengvaxia mass vaccination program.

Likewise, he said that Aquino, Garin, Abad, and other government officials should be investigated and prosecuted for graft and violation of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees. —Amita Legaspi/LBG, GMA News

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