(Eagle News) — Former President Benigno Aquino III attended the continuation of the hearings in Congress about the mass vaccination of Sanofi Pasteur’s Dengvaxia vaccine that was implemented during his administration.
In the hearing on Monday, February 26, Aquino again defended his decision to use the anti-dengue vaccine during his administration saying this was done to save lives as there was an increasing number of dengue infections at the time.
Aquino claimed that in 1995, there were 5,166 suspected dengue cases, and that in 2015, the recorded dengue cases rose to 200,415.
“Humaharap ako ngayon sa Kongreso dahil sa tingin ko na kailangan kong dalhin sa tamang landas at linawin ang mga haka-haka kaugnay ng Dengvaxia,” he said.
“Hindi natin maikakaila na matagal na ang problem ng dengue sa bansa. Ginawa namin ang lahat ayon na rin sa pag-aaral ng mga dalubhasa,” Aquino said as he claimed that the vaccine became a hot topic only when the French pharmaceutical firm, Sanofi Pasteur, issued a warning on the use of the vaccine for those who have not had dengue.
“Naging mainit ang kontrobersya nang maglabas ng warning ang Sanofi Pasteur,” he said
The former President read a statement to clarify his position.
Former Health Secretary Janet Garin also said that the DOH during her time, did all due diligence to ensure that the Dengvaxia vaccine was safe for use.
She said that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the vaccine and that they followed the World Health Organization guidelines.
Garin said that it was during the Aquino administration that more expensive vaccines were made available for the poor.
“The vaccines that were before only available for the rich were also made available for the poor,” she said.
