DOJ indicts Garin, 19 others over alleged Dengvaxia-linked deaths

March 1, 2019

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has recommended the indictment of former Health Secretary Janette Garin and 19 others for reckless imprudence resulting in homicide over deaths of eight children allegedly after being inoculated by Dengvaxia vaccine.

In a statement, the DOJ’s panel of prosecutors Friday found probable cause to hold Garin and other respondents criminally liable for the deaths of eight children arising from their “inexcusable lack of precaution and foresight when they facilitated, with undue haste, 'the registration and purchase of Dengvaxia' and used the vaccine in implementing a school-based dengue mass immunization program."

“The Panel found sufficient evidence that Garin and the other respondents circumvented various regulations in the purchase of P3.5 billion worth of Dengvaxia vaccine which constituted proof of their reckless imprudence," the investigating prosecutors said in their 127-page resolution approved by Acting Prosecutor General Richard Anthony Fadullon.

Prosecutors also found sufficient basis to charge nine officials from the Department of Health, two from the Food and Drug Administration, two from the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, and six from vaccine maker Sanofi Pasteur for the same offense.

The resolution covers nine of 35 complaints mostly filed by parents of Dengvaxia recipients who died of different causes.

Prosecutors have yet to resolve the remaining 26, which made similar allegations against the same respondents.

Through the Public Attorney's Office, the complainants based their allegations on findings by the PAO forensic team that linked the deaths to vaccination with Dengvaxia.

The DOJ prosecutors noted Garin and other respondents went around regulations in the purchase of P3.5 billion worth of Dengvaxia vaccine, which is proof of reckless imprudence. DMS