Sanofi’s Dengvaxia is breaking the heart of Philippine parents, who were grossly ill-informed when they acceded to the ill-conceived government mass vaccination program, a few months prior to the Duterte presidency.
As of September 26, 2018, the Department of Health disclosed that out of at least 830,000 Dengvaxia vaccinated children in the country, among 154 deaths to date, 19 kids died of Dengue despite Dengvaxia shots.
ILOCUS SUR, Philippines – The Department of Health (DOH) said latest data showed that 19 out of 154 children who died after receiving at least one dose of Dengvaxia, had dengue despite the vaccination.
DOH Undersecretary Enrique Domingo said of the 19 individuals who had dengue, 6 were diagnosed clinically and 13 were confirmed to have the illness through laboratory tests. He gave the figures, which were as of September 14, to reporters during a forum of health journalists.
“Of those deaths, 19 were definitely due to dengue…. Meaning they were vaccinated with Dengvaxia and somehow the vaccine failed or caused severe effects,” he said on Wednesday, September 26.
But Domingo clarified there was still no solid evidence on whether or not the Dengvaxia vaccine itself directly caused the deaths. The vaccine, he said, may only be “possibly related” and further studies over the next few years will be needed to establish it.
The latest figure is an increase in both the number of deaths and children who were confirmed to have dengue and died despite receiving the vaccine. In May 2018, Domingo said 11 out of 87 kids died of dengue despite Dengvaxia shot.
If one would immediately notice, there’s no categorical mention about any deaths caused by the use of Dengvaxia. That is a willful coverup of the most heinous crime of our time. Even the 154 figure of deaths is highly questionable considering that other agencies of government are saying more than 200 have already died, and still counting.
There are also reports from various sources, including the victims’ parents themselves, that the DOH and Sanofi representatives are offering P50,000 to them for their silence.
The cadaver of the latest victim was also subjected to “organ theft” as discovered by the Public Attorney’s Office own forensic team responded to the request of the grandmother for another autopsy of the dead vaccinated victim.
In order to have an extensive overview about how Big Pharma colluded with government officials in the Philippines to implement what could be dubbed as “most massive clinical trials of the 21st Century” of a vaccine, we are sharing the article written by Dr. Francisco S. Cruz, that appeared in the Manila Times on December 18, 2017:
Was it a good mass vaccination campaign or good election campaign strategy?
By DR. FRANCISCO SALCEDO CRUZ on December 18, 2017
TWICE I have been designated as an expert resource person to the Senate hearings on the recent dengue vaccination debacle. Many in the media have called me a “whistleblower” because of my statements. But instead of being overcome by fear, I am moved by real concern.
Observing the events unfold and hearing the sentiment of the people, I think I share a burning question with many others: was this a well-designed, planned and implemented mass vaccination campaign during the 2016 national elections? Or was this a well-designed, planned and implemented election campaign using immunization during the 2016 national elections?
I am only a public health advocate, hence I cannot comment on the latter. Let the seasoned politicians debate whether or not mass vaccination is a good election campaign strategy.
Elements of a good vaccination program
However, it if it were the former, the following would have happened:
First, the designated subnational program manager would have the experience and expertise of running a vaccination initiative. If done right, such would include major components like vaccine services, cold chain logistics, behavior change communication and health promotion, social mobilization and community participation, disease surveillance, and monitoring and evaluation. It is worth noting that the Philippine Children’s Medical Center (PCMC) had none of these competences. The main reason of the selection of the PCMC is directly attributable to the late issuance of the special allotment release order (SARO), an authority to incur obligations, and the DoH practice of sub-allotting funds to government medical centers to procure items for the department’s central office.
Second, when one plans for a new, big health project, the primary consideration is achieving the “highest chance of success.” If the target individuals were Grade 4 schoolchildren and the vaccination sites would be their public schools,“the highest chance of success” would be achieved by conducting the project when the students, teachers and even parents were all around, that is, when there were classes. It would be unreasonable to implement vaccination, say, during the summer vacation.
Third, vaccination and health promotion are twin interventions in immunization programs. The most effective prevention in any public health program which targets disease reduction is improving health literacy among mothers, families and communities. After all, they are the primary producers of health–not the DoH, nor LGUs and international agencies. Disclosing pertinent information to the mothers and children is particularly mandatory in routine immunization.
Providential ‘bad science’
On another equally important matter, the latest pronouncement of “bad science” in a recent hearing—highlighting how decision-makers were receivers of bad advice—seems to me providential. Experts sounded the alarm as early as March 2016. The DoH then did not care to listen. It was full steam ahead. For whatever reason, the DoH found the time and urgency to implement the “mass vaccination campaign” during the 2016 national elections. From the other field, from nowhere, came the November 27 announcement of Sanofi-Pasteur. If this was not providential, I do not know what is.
A career public servant of more than three decades stated under oath, “Health and politics do not mix,” and immediately after, another who served more than five decades (and is an incumbent senator) agreed with the lady.
Core issues
These investigations will continue to pick up until early next year, but so far, there are core issues that must challenge everyone involved:
This issue is a real-life nightmare for Filipino families and children. Greed and politics exposed 830,000 healthy children to potential harm and their parents to unnecessary worry that could extend for decades. The only way to allay fear and confusion is to provide timely and correct information to the victims. This should have been done in the beginning. Without this information, there should have been no vaccination. But there was no full disclosure. No parental consent.
Imperfect science cannot distract from what is perfectly clear: people got greedy. Sanofi-Pasteur is the manufacturer and supplier of Dengvaxia. The DoH is the contracting party. Even without the “bad science” issue, there were apparent red flags in the procurement and delivery of the new vaccination services. During the December 11, 2017 Senate hearing, I stated under oath:
- There is an ongoing wide-scale cover-up of senior DoH officials. The Department of Justice and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) should investigate DoH fast. There is hope since the present health secretary is not involved in the cover-up. However, those giving him advice on this issue are complicit in this Dengvaxia mess. Presently, I have met with two DoH insiders (an assistant secretary and a doctor program manager) who had the courage to come out, tell the truth and show documents of collusion and corruption among undersecretaries (retired, resigned and incumbent), assistant secretaries, central office and regional directors. I advised the two insiders to first seek clearance from the present DoH secretary.
- The P3.55 billion Dengvaxia mess is just the tip of the iceberg. A quick, comprehensive, and evidence-based investigation by the DoJ and NBI will reveal that the P23-billion Health Facility Enhancement Program and the P12-billion Procurement of Medicines projects are of a similar nature.
Sin of ambition
Yet this is not only about graft and corruption. It is also about honoring a great tradition among DoH secretaries. Almost all are well-respected and highly competent. The great tradition is the respect of the outgoing secretary for the incoming secretary, sincerely wishing the latter success. The outgoing secretary cuts cleanly.
This tradition was esteemed in the service of secretaries Azurin (the last secretary of President Marcos), Bengzon and Periquet (President Corazon Aquino), Flavier, Galvez-Tan, Ramiro, Reodica (President Ramos), Estrella, Romualdez (President Estrada), Dayrit, Duque, Cabral (President Macapagal-Arroyo), Ona (President Benigno Aquino 3rd), and Ubial and Duque (President Duterte).
Certain past DoH secretaries can be considered to be “hulog ng langit” for the department and for all Filipinos. Alran Bengzon and Johnny Flavier led the way. There were also Chit Reodica, Cuasi Romauldez, Manolet Dayrit and Espy Cabral. Certainly Secretary Duque, Enrique Ona and Paulyn Ubial are among them.
Among these giants, I cannot help but consider one who broke tradition and fell from grace. Nahulog sa hagdanan sa pagmamadali.
It is bad enough to steal from government coffers. But for a doctor to do harm to children? That must be the worst sin of ambition.
Dr Cruz is a former consultant on good governance to the Department of Health, and is an expert on vaccine preventable diseases (VPD) and the DoH Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI). He was the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) expert resource person during the Senate committee hearings on the Dengvaxia issue.
https://www.manilatimes.net/good-mass-vaccination-campaign-good-election-campaign-strategy/369288/
it is for this reason that we’ve decided to release our own implementation of the shelved US Patent 5188738 issued on the research and method formulated by Dr. Steven Kaali, et al, which is proven to “neutralize all known and unknown parasites, fungus, microbes, and viruses (including HIV-AIDS virus), but does not render the healthy blood cells unfit for the human body“ this year, after passionately advocating for its global use for the last 10 years!
Meanwhile, the DOH secretary continue to bury the issue by saying that the entire case needs more thorough investigations.
