MANILA -- Three more parents of children who reportedly died after being injected with the dengue vaccine Dengvaxia on Thursday sued former Health Secretary Janette Garin and 36 others before the Department of Justice (DOJ).
The families of Clarissa Alcantara, Erico Mendoza Leabres, and Christine Mae de Guzman, assisted by the Public Attorneys’ Office (PAO), filed the complaint of reckless imprudence resulting to multiple homicide, torture, and violations of the Consumer Protection Act (Republic Act 7394) against Garin, and several health officials.
Aside from Garin, other respondents include Dr. Vicente Belizario Jr., Dr. Kenneth Hartigan-Go, Dr. Gerardo Bayugo, Dr. Lyndon Lee Suy, Dr. Irma Asuncion, Dr. Julius Lecciones, Dr. Joyce Ducusin, Rosalind Vianzon, and Mario Baquilod.
Other respondents are Food and Drug Administration officials Dr. Maria Lourdes Santiago and Melody Zamudio; and officials of the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine-- Socorro Lupisan and Maria Rosario Capeding.
Executives of Sanofi Pasteur, the Dengvaxia manufacturer, were named as respondents. They are Carlito Realuyo, Stanislas Camart, Jean Louis Grunwald, Jean-Francois Vacherand, Conchita Santos, Jazel Anne Calvo, Pearl Grace Cabali, and Marie Esther de Antoni.
Meanwhile, respondents from vaccine distributor Zuellig Pharma are Kasigod Jamias, John Paul Becker, Ricardo Romulo, Imran Babar Chugtai, Rayumund Azurin, Nilo Badiola, John Stokes Davison, Marc Franck, Ashley Gerard Antonio, Ana Liza Peralta, Rosa Maria Chua, Danilo Cahoy, Manuel Concio III, Roland Goco, and Ma. Visitacion Barreiro.
The complaints are the 13th up to the 15th cases filed by the PAO over the controversial PHP3.5-billion school-based government immunization program.
Meanwhile, Sanofi Pasteur executives urged the DOJ anew to grant them additional time to submit their counter-affidavits during Thursday’s continuation of the preliminary investigation on 12 other cases.
The panel of prosecutors, chaired by Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Ma. Emilia Victorio, granted the plea and gave them up to September 14 to submit their counter-affidavits and other defenses.
The panel also allowed the Sanofi executives to subscribe to their sworn statements before the Philippine Consular Office in France or elsewhere they may be. (PNA)
