DOH to exhaust all legal remedies vs Sanofi
“The DOH assures the general public that it will exhaust all legal remedies against Sanofi Pasteur and will bring its misrepresentations to justice.” File photo
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health on Thursday vowed that it will exhaust all legal means against pharmaceutical firm Sanofi Pasteur, the manufacturer of the controversial Dengvaxia.
In a statement, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said that he had ordered the agency’s legal department to ready a civil suit against Sanofi after declining to refund the used doses of Dengvaxia amounting to 1.6 billion and compensate the families of the children who were affected by the vaccine’s botched implementation.
“The DOH assures the general public that it will exhaust all legal remedies against Sanofi Pasteur and will bring its misrepresentations to justice,” Duque said.
READ: Sanofi insists refusal to refund used Dengvaxia, compensate victims
He maintained that the DOH made it categorically clear that it intends to use the dengue vaccine in a school-based immunization program for students regardless of whether they had prior dengue infection or not.
“Sanofi Pasteur’s labelling did not qualify the recommended use or risk on the serostatus at baseline of the intended recipient of the vaccine,” the health chief said.
Sanofi on November 29 announced that Dengvaxia poses threat to individuals who had not been infected with dengue prior to vaccination.
“It is regrettable that this crucial information was only made public by Sanofi Pasteur after the DOH has implemented the vaccine program to about 837,000 children,” Duque said.
The Dengvaxia fiasco has sparked public panic, with many parents refusing their children to get immunized.
READ: Dengvaxia row wreaks havoc on Philippine war on disease
- Latest
- Trending
