Former president Benigno Aquino III should not be blamed for approving the purchase of P3.5-billion anti-dengue vaccines from Sanofi Pasteur since he is just relying on experts’ advice, health reform advocates said.

Dr. Anthony Leachon said they find it unnecessary to question the Aquino government’s decision to procure the Dengvaxia vaccines during his term since he only acted on the country’s dengue problem “with a sense of urgency” based on the recommendation of the Department of Health (DOH).

The real problem lies, Leachon said, in whether or not Aquino, then Health Secretary Janette Garin and even the World Health Organization (WHO), were fed the wrong information by the French pharmaceutical company.

“I was asked the other day, whether the ex-president and secretary of health is liable for this one. My answer is basically, if the bad science or wrong information has been fed to the president… how could you blame the President if he was fed by wrong information and even WHO (World Health Organization) or even (former Health) Secretary (Janette) Garin?” Leachon told the Senate blue ribbon committee at the continuation of the Senate’s probe into the government’s dengue vaccination program.

Dr. Antonio Dans, a scientist from the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), pointed out that the main problem was “bad science” got mixed with politics.

“In my own opinion, the whole problem started with bad science. In our opinion, that’s the root of the problem. And that bad science, there were already signals of harm in zero negative patients,” Dans said.

“And it was ignored initially and it led to the delayed recognition of that harm. And then we were led to patients who were uninformed,” he said.

“It’s an issue whether patients had previous dengue and that signal was ignored. The WHO was a victim of that bad science. The DOH (Department of Health) was a victim of bad science,” he added.

Independent from DOH

And because there is no adequate policy between politics and science, Dans recommended that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) be separated from the DOH and be made into an independent agency.

“Because there is no policy to separate politics and science, (since) the FDA is under the DOH, then we lose the check and balances. FDA should be independent from DOH,” Dans said.

Leachon agreed and said problems arise when policy makers would interfere with the opinions of experts and scientists.

“So, we cannot mix science and health and politics. But it all started with the bad science and deceptive or wrong information, Sir,” Leachon told the panel.

Sanofi Pasteur, makers of the Dengvaxia vaccines, which were administered to some 830,000 children, recently released an advisory stating that Dengvaxia could cause serious adverse reaction to those who were immunized without being previously infected by dengue.

But the French manufacturer reiterated there is no question on the safety and efficacy of the drug reiterating that it is still being used in 19 countries.

Aquino, who was present during the hearing, said that he made sure that Dengvaxia underwent a thorough clinical study both internationally and locally before approving the procurement of the vaccines.

As to why they had to rush acquisition of the drugs despite the fact the vaccines were not itemized under the General Appropriations Act (GAA), Aquino said their concern was that the anti-dengue vaccination might not be carried out by the next administration.

Aquino also said he gave the go-signal for the purchase of Dengvaxia using “unutilized funds” under the 2015 budget because the savings were set to expire at the end of that year.

“If by December 31, you do not utilize these unutilized funds, it reverts back to the national treasury, then how do you fund it? You can go and ask for a supplemental budget, which requires new sources of revenue,” Aquino, a former senator, pointed out.

The former leader also admitted he was not made aware of the bribery charges hounding Sanofi Pasteur when he met with the company’s executives both in Beijing and Paris in 2015.

Source:
courtesy of MANILA BULLETIN

by Hannah Torregoza

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