DOJ recommends indictment of Garin, nine officials for reckless imprudence resulting to homicide over Dengvaxia

February 21, 2020

The Department of Justice ( DOJ) has recommended the indictment of former Health Secretary and now Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin plus nine officials, in connection with the second batch of complaints involving deaths of school children from the inoculation of the Dengvaxia vaccine.

In a statement on Friday, Assistant Justice Secretary Neal Bainto revealed that the DOJ’s panel of prosecutors that conducted the preliminary investigation has found probable cause to charge Garin and nine other officials of the Department of Health, the Food  and Drug Administration (FDA), Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), and Sanofi Pasteur, Inc. (Sanofi) for reckless imprudence resulting to homicide.

Citing the 78-page resolution dated February 19, the DOJ said the panel also found sufficient evidence to indict the president of Sanofi for violating the Consumer Act of the Philippines for manufacturing the Dengvaxia vaccine, which poses certain risks to those who have not previously contracted  dengue. 

A copy of the resolution was not made available.

Government prosecutors found sufficient basis to indict those named as respondents in the first batch of complaints filed by the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO).

Bainto said the DOJ panel found there was an “inexcusable lack of precaution” on the part of Garin and the other respondent government officials in the “fast-tracking of the procurement process” for the Dengvaxia vaccine.

Executive Order No. 49, series 1993 requires Philippine National Drug Formulary listing before drug purchases by the government can be made, subject to certain exceptions.

“The panel found that respondent government officials were reckless when they allowed the purchase of the Dengvaxia vaccine despite red flags already known to them,” the DOJ statement stressed.

The DOJ official said the prosecutors noted that the clinical trials for the Dengvaxia vaccine were not yet completed when it was purchased and rolled out for use in the government’s mass immunization program.

Despite ongoing clinical trials, FDA approved the vaccine’s registration. DMS