DOJ: Refiling of Dengvaxia-related cases vs. health officials a matter of procedure

The Department of Justice’s (DOJ) decision to refile criminal cases in connection with the anti-dengue Dengvaxia vaccination program is a matter of procedure, Prosecutor General Benedicto Malcontento said Wednesday.

Malcontento made the response during the questioning of House appropriations panel senior vice chairperson and former Health secretary Janette Garin who decried the filing of cases against health professionals, including doctors and vaccinologists, in connection with the Dengvaxia vaccination program.

“The prosecutor general is filing these ‘copy-and-paste’ cases related to Dengvaxia supposedly because people died because of it when in fact nobody died, and the vaccine is being used in 21 countries. Isn’t this an injustice to our health experts who are being forced to shell out millions for their bail? Two of them are even terminally ill, why don’t we let them die in peace?” Garin said.

Malcontento, in response, said “I will answer by way of procedure. The moment a complaint is filed before the DOJ, our mandate is to receive it, run a preliminary investigation and in due course, decide whether we will file the case or not. In this case, the next procedure is for the prosecutors to file the case and it goes to the court.”

He cited a June 2023 decision issued by the Supreme Court ordering the filing of all Dengvaxia cases to the Quezon City family court which exercises exclusive jurisdiction over child and family cases.

The criminal complaints against the health officials were filed by the Public Attorney's Office (PAO) led by lawyer Persida Acosta. PAO is an attached agency of DOJ.

Garin is one of the respondents in the pending cases for reckless imprudence resulting in homicide, since she was the Health secretary when Dengvaxia vaccination program was implemented.

The Dengvaxia controversy arose in November 2017 when Dengvaxia manufacturer Sanofi-Pasteur announced that their vaccine posed a risk to those who were not infected by dengue prior to being injected with the vaccine.

This announcement, however, only came after the vaccine has already been administered to at least 700,000 children and even policemen.

Sanofi returned P1.16 billion to the Department of Health for the unused doses of the vaccine.—AOL, GMA Integrated News