Duterte to create panel to review Dengvaxia-linked deaths

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte will create a three-man panel of experts to look into the probable cause of deaths allegedly linked to the controversial Dengvaxia, Malacañang announced Tuesday.

In a press briefing, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. said that the president will be bound by the findings of the panel composed of Asian experts on whether or not Dengvaxia actually caused deaths.

This will be different from the separate reviews of the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital and the Public Attorney’s Office.

“As a lawyer and a former prosecutor, he knows that expert witnesses cancel out each other’s testimonies. In effect, he said that with conflicting testimonies from the experts from PAO and PGH, he is constrained to seek further advice from disinterested parties,” Roque said.

The president’s mouthpiece added: “That’s why he requested that the panel of experts should be foreign, should have no links absolutely with the Philippine government and links with Sanofi.”

The expert physicians of PGH found that three of the 14 children who died after being vaccinated with Dengvaxia contracted dengue. It noted that two of these children may have died because of vaccine failure but cautioned that more tests should still be done.

PAO’s findings, presented before the Senate blue ribbon committee, showed a link between the deaths of 22 children they autopsied and the dengue vaccine.

More than 830,000 people have been vaccinated with Dengvaxia since it was launched during the term of former Department of Health secretary Janette Garin.