Aquino: Nobody objected to Dengvaxia prior to procurement

Former President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III on Thursday said that no one informed him about their objection against Dengvaxia when the previous administration decided to roll out its nationwide anti-dengue vaccine program. (PRIB Photo by Joseph Vidal via Senate of the Philippines/Facebook)

Former President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III on Thursday said that no one informed him about their objection against Dengvaxia when the previous administration decided to roll out its nationwide anti-dengue vaccine program.

Attending the joint hearing of the Senate Blue Ribbon and Health committees, the former President justified that no one questioned the controversial dengue vaccine from the time it was bought during his term.

“Bago nagdesisyon ang gobyerno sa Dengvaxia, habang nagdedesisyon, pagkatapos magdesisyon, at hanggang ngayon, walang nagparating sa akin ng pagtutol sa bakuna (Before the government decided on Dengvaxia, while deciding, and even after deciding, no one told me about their objection to the vaccine),” Aquino said.

In 2016, the Aquino administration purchased P3.5 billion-worth of dengue vaccine from French pharmaceutical giant and manufacturer of Dengvaxia, Sanofi Pasteur. The vaccination program was launched a month prior to the presidential elections in May.

The manufacturer of Dengvaxia recently revealed that the vaccine may worsen the disease on individuals who have not been infected by Dengue but were administered with the vaccine.

Aquino stressed that experts told him Dengvaxia underwent safety and efficacy tests.

“Sa aking pagkaunawa, sa lahat ng ibinalita ng eksperto, dumaan na po ito sa lahat ng proseso para malaman ang kaniyang efficacy at mas importante, ang kanyang safety (Based on my understanding, as what experts said, it went through the process to determine its efficacy and safety),” he said.

Aquino even added that the vaccine had been cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and that he was told the necessary local and international studies on it have been done.

“Ang intindi natin sa Dengvaxia, natapos na ang local at international processes nito. Tinignan namin ang U.S. FDA; may 5 steps ito (We were made to understand that local and international processes for Dengvaxia were completed. We looked at the US FDA; it has 5 steps): Discovery, and development, pre-clinical research, clinical research, FDA review, at post-market safety monitoring,” the former President said.

“Paliwanag sa akin, U.S. FDA ang nagreregulate sa international clinical trials. Dahil dumaan sa ganitong proseso, ang alam natin, safe na ang Dengvaxia para sa tao (They explained to me that U.S. FDA regulated the international clinical trials. Since it underwent that process, we knew it was safe to people),” he added.

Aquino admitted that he had met with Sanofi officials on Decemebr 1, 2015 when he went to Paris for the United Nations Climate Change Conference. He said he was told that Sanofi was ready for the vaccine.

The Department of Health (DOH) launched the vaccination drive in Metro Manila, Cantral Luzon, and CALABARZON as these three regions are the most affected by dengue based on 2015 data, according to Aquino.

The DOH earlier called it off, following the release of Sanofi’s post-clinical analysis.

The Senate joint probe is investigating the possible irregularities of the Aquino administration’s implementation of vaccination program.