DOJ clears Paulyn Jean Ubial in Dengvaxia deaths

MANILA, Philippines —  The Department of Justice (DOJ) has junked the criminal charges filed by former health secretary Janette Garin against her successor, Paulyn Jean Ubial, over the deaths of school children inoculated with the controversial Dengvaxia vaccine.

Ubial expressed relief over the DOJ resolution and said she is consulting her lawyers to see if they can file counter-charges against Garin.

In a seven-page resolution released yesterday, the DOJ dismissed for lack of probable cause the complaint for reckless imprudence resulting in homicide against Ubial.

Investigating Assistant State Prosecutor Claire Eufracia Pagayanan cited the failure of Garin to prove her allegations against Ubial by citing specific cases of Dengvaxia deaths during earlier preliminary investigation.

“In order to establish the liability of Ubial for the crime charged, it must be shown that there is a direct causal connection between such negligence and the death complained of. However, Garin failed to name a single victim who reportedly died as a result of Ubial’s alleged negligent approval and implementation of community-based Dengue immunization program,” read the resolution signed by Pagayanan.

In her complaint, Garin alleged that Ubial should be held criminally liable because she was the one who decided to shift the dengue immunization program from being school-based to community-based contributed to alleged reported deaths among immunized children.

But in her answer, Ubial argued that the community-based implementation of the dengue immunization program was not contrary to the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations that immunization programs should be school-based.

Ubial explained that she was “not negligent or imprudent in implementing the community-based dengue immunization program” and that the decision to implement it was “a result of discussions by the DOH executive committee, consultations with medical experts, and was supported by scientifically and medically backed-up research culled from several years of clinical trials.”

Garin served as health chief from December 2014 to June 2016, followed by Ubial, who was in the post from July 2016 to October 2017.

Garin was indicted by the DOJ last month for the same criminal charges of reckless imprudence resulting in homicide for the deaths of eight schoolchildren in the first batch of Dengvaxia cases filed by the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO).

Meanwhile, four counts of reckless imprudence resulting in homicide were recommended against Ma. Lourdes Santiago and Melody Zamudio of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The DOJ panel said it found Garin and the other respondents reportedly circumvented various regulations in the purchase of P3.5 billion worth of the anti-dengue vaccine. 

The DOJ panel said that at the time of purchase, the Dengvaxia vaccine was reportedly not yet listed in the Philippine National Drug Formulary (PNDF). A purchase request for the vaccine was only made in March 2016. 

It was also learned that clinical trials for Dengvaxia were not yet completed when it was purchased and rolled out for use in the mass immunization program.

Garin and other respondents are still facing preliminary investigation before the DOJ for the other batches of Dengvaxia deaths.   – With Sheila Crisostomo