DOJ drops Dengvaxia聽cases vs Garin, 2 others
INQUIRER file photo
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Justice (DOJ) has ordered the withdrawal of 98 cases of reckless imprudence resulting in homicide against former Health Secretary Janette Garin and two others in connection with the controversial dengue vaccine Dengvaxia.
In a Jan. 10 resolution, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla instructed the prosecutor general to withdraw the criminal information filed in the Quezon City Regional Trial Court against Garin and fellow respondents Dr. Gerardo Bayugo, a former health undersecretary, and Dr. Ma. Joyce Ducusin, former Department of Health (DOH) officer in charge.
“In the absence of malicious intent on the part of respondents-appellants, they cannot be held liable for conspiring and confederating with one another to commit reckless imprudence,” Remulla said.
READ: Ex-DOH officials face complaints over Dengvaxia mess
The Dengvaxia program was intended to immunize schoolchildren against dengue.
Article continues after this advertisementThe vaccine was administered to over 700,000 children nationwide, but complaints were filed after some children reportedly developed severe symptoms and subsequently died, allegedly due to the vaccine.
Article continues after this advertisementAccording to the complainants, their children, after being inoculated with only one dose of Dengvaxia, became ill and exhibited symptoms such as headaches, abdominal pain, fever and, at times, rashes, epistaxis, body weakness, slurring of speech, changes in behavior, difficulty in breathing and loss of appetite, among others.
Parents and other relatives of these children gathered outside the DOJ on Monday to press the department to pursue the cases against Garin, Bayugo, and Ducusin.
‘No causal link’
They said their children died from seven days to as long as almost three years after receiving the vaccine dose, noting further that forensic examination of their bodies showed enlargement of organs and extensive bleeding in other organs, most commonly the brain.
In explaining how Garin, now a representative of Iloilo province, and the others became absolved of their alleged offense, Justice Undersecretary Raul Vasquez told reporters that the cases relied on “reckless imprudence” and “conspiracy,” which posed legal challenges.
Negligence (reckless imprudence), for one, is unintentional, while conspiracy implies intent, making it difficult to reconcile both allegations, Vasquez said.
Remulla said it could not be established that there was any “causal link” between the Dengvaxia vaccination and the subsequent deaths of the children inoculated.
The DOJ pointed out further in its resolution that “an appreciable period of time had elapsed between [the children’s] inoculation and the dates of their deaths… Their deaths could be attributable to some other reasons.”
Even assuming there was a causal relationship between the vaccine and the fatalities, the DOJ said it found no evidence linking the respondents’ actions or omissions to the children’s deaths.
In the case of Garin’s supposed culpability from her negotiations with officials of Sanofi Pasteur, manufacturer of Dengvaxia, the DOJ said none of her actions could be said to have resulted in the death of the children due to reckless imprudence.
‘Legal strategy’
The DOJ also noted that the Dengvaxia vaccination program was “not haphazardly designed, planned and implemented,” adding that it had been proposed long before Garin’s term from 2015 to 2016, during former Health Secretary Enrique Ona’s tenure.
Vasquez told the children’s relatives that a criminal case might not be their legal remedy.
“The remedy may not be criminal. There could be claims for civil damages from whoever is concerned,” he said.
“We’re not saying that there is an obligation; we don’t want to speculate, but that’s the challenge for their lawyers—to craft a legal strategy that may provide them some help and support, some kind of assistance for compensation for all the suffering,” he also told reporters.
Dengvaxia is the world’s first dengue vaccine. The Food and Drug Administration approved its use in December 2015.
The DOH introduced its dengue immunization program in April 2016 among selected Grade 4 public school pupils in three regions with the highest number of dengue cases—Metro Manila, Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) and Central Luzon.
But fatalities in the wake of the P4-billion program caused a public outcry, prompting Sanofi Pasteur to return the money and the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) to file cases against DOH officials led by Garin.
PAO chief Persida Rueda-Acosta, however, was also criticized for stoking fears following the Dengvaxia scare which led to a drop in public immunization amid a measles outbreak in 2019. —with a report from Inquirer Research
