Health department wants full refund for dengue vaccine

January 29, 2018

The health department wants Sanofi Pasteur to return close to P2 million it paid for the used dengue vaccine Dengvaxia.

In an interview late Monday afternoon, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said "we already submitted the demand letter  for the used vaccines and including the indemnification fund to reimburse for the used Dengvaxia."

He said this was due to the lack of promised benefit in using the vaccine.

"It is because the purported or reported protection wasn't felt... it wasn't there," said Duque. He said Sanofi Pasteur has yet to respond.

The health department had sought a refund of  P1.4 billion out of the P3.5 billion for unused dengue vaccine vials after remaining unused units were returned to Sanofi Pasteur.

"It is almost completely refunded except for few thousand pesos," said Duque in reference to the refund for the unused vaccines.

Duque ordered health department officials in the NCR, Central Luzon and Calabarzon to be more active in addressing issues about the mass dengue vaccination in their areas.

"Give a human face to the efforts of the DOH by reaching out to the parents and patients, and to show compassion, particularly to the bereaved parents and relatives," Duque said in a command conference.

Duque urged public hospitals in the three regions to extend their utmost to address health concerns of Dengvaxia vaccine recipients. DMS