THE Department of Justice has withdrawn the 98 counts of reckless imprudence resulting in homicide cases filed against former Health Secretary and now Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin stemming from the controversial anti-dengue vaccine Dengvaxia made by French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi Pasteur
In a resolution dated January 10, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla ordered the Prosecutor General to withdraw the cases filed against Garin as well as her co-respondents Dr. Ma. Joyce Ducusin and Dr. Gerardo Bayugo before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court.
Sought for comment, Justice Undersecretary Raul Vasquez yesterday said the department decided to withdraw the case because the evidence against the respondents is wanting.
“We decided the case based on the evidence that were present… It’s high time that we have to accept the fact na medyo tagilid yung ebidensya kung tutuusin (the evidence might not stand),” Vasquez said.
“We were not influenced by any personalities,” he added.
Vasquez said the DOJ will still pursue the case against others accused in the Dengvaxia mess, adding that only Garin, Bayugo and Ducusin are entitled to the relief since they are the only ones who filed the petition.
“But they can ask for their inclusion and we will study if the circumstances are similar,” he said.
To recall, in 2017, the Philippines suspended its dengue vaccination program using Dengvaxia jabs following Sanofi’s announcement that it could cause severe dengue if given to those without prior exposure to the disease.
Some 860,000 people, including 830,000 children, were inoculated with Dengvaxia before the DOH stopped the program in 2017.
Public Attorney’s Office chief Persida Rueda Acosta, who spearheaded the filing of cases against health officials and that of Sanofi, has said they have documented close to 100 deaths of children attributable to Dengvaxia.
Remulla’s order was in response to a petition filed by Garin and her co-respondents challenging the June 14, 2022 resolution of state prosecutors which found probable cause to indict them for the deaths of 98 school children who were vaccinated with Dengvaxia.
“After a careful examination of the evidence on the records of these cases, we do not find a prima facie case with reasonable certainty of conviction against respondents-appellants Dr. Janette Garin, Dr. Gerardo Bayugo, and Dr. Ma. Joyce Ducusin. The Prosecutor General is hereby directed to withdraw the information for reckless imprudence resulting in homicide, if any, filed against respondent-appellants Garin, Bayugo and Ducusin, and to report to this Office the action within ten days from receipt of this Resolution,” Remulla said.
“In the scheme of things that transpired involving Dengvaxia, we found that the step-by-step procedures undertaken by respondents-appellants, leading to the implementation of the program, do not exhibit inexcusable lack of precaution to hold them liable for reckless imprudence resulting to homicide,” Remulla added.
Remulla stressed Garin and the other respondents cannot be held liable for conspiring and confederating with one another as there was no malicious intent on their part, especially since they had to rely on the certificate of product registration issued by the Food and Drug Administration for Dengvaxia along with the clinical trials for the vaccine.
“Plus, before the Dengvaxia was purchased and distributed, a rigorous bidding process in accordance with existing laws for its procurement was undertaken by the concerned parties,” Remulla further said.
Specifically, Remulla said Garin’s only participation when she was chief of the Department of Health (DOH) was she negotiated with Sanofi Pasteur for the purchase of Dengvaxia; submitted funding proposal to the Department of Budget and Management; issued a certification of exemption of Dengvaxia from the Philippine National Drug Formulary; and entered into a memorandum of agreement with the Department of Interior and Local Government and Department of Education for the implementation of the vaccination project.
As to Ducusin, who at the time was the head of the DOH Family Health Office, her only role is her submission of the request for exemption to Garin and being the officer-in-charge of the expanded program.
Meanwhile, the DOJ said Bayugo’s only participation was his supervision of the program and users.
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Remulla said it cannot be established that there was any causal link between the Dengvaxia inoculation of the school children with the deaths as alleged in the complaint against Garin and her co-respondents.
“With the CPR being issued for Dengvaxia by FDA coupled with the clinical trials undertaken concerning the vaccine, and the conduct of health assessment of the students before giving them vaccination, the proponents as well as the other actors in the implementation of the vaccination program has reasons to rely on these heavily,” Remulla said.
He also cited the claim of Dr. Scott Halstead, who in his testimony before the Senate inquiry in 2018 on the Dengvaxia mess, said the cause of death of the school children could not be determined by the findings of an autopsy.
Halstead is one of the world’s foremost authorities on viruses transmitted by mosquitoes
Another expert, Dr. Raymondo Lo according to Remulla stressed that neurotropism and viscerotropic diseases are terms that cannot be attributed to a deceased individual, but only to a live person since the effects to be observed can be seen in living persons.
“Since it appears that viscerotropism and neurotropism cannot be determined via an autopsy, little to no probative value should be attributed to the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO Forensic Reports,” Remulla said.