By Meanne Corvera
Eagle News Service
Former Health Secretary Janette Garin and her predecessor Enrique Ona pointed fingers at each other for the Dengvaxia mess at the resumption of the Senate blue ribbon committee’s hearing on Monday.
Ona said he never included Dengvaxia in the list of vaccines to be used in the government’s vaccination program at that time because the clinical trial had not been completed.
According to Ona, this was despite the fact that Sanofi Pasteur would hold briefings almost yearly.
Ona served as health secretary from June 2010 to December 2014 during the first months of then-President Benigno Aquino III’s term.
“In light of this Sanofi Pasteur advisory on the use of anti-dengue
vaccine Dengvaxia, the leadership that took over the DOH after I left
in December 20, 2014 are solely responsible for all the decisions that
has resulted in what was becoming to be a major health nightmare in
the country,” Ona said, referring to Garin.
He said that Garin, in the first place, should not have allowed the vaccination of almost one million children with Dengvaxia.
He said that based on existing data, almost 100,000 people are afflicted with dengue.
Even then though, he said dengue was still not the top causes of mortality among Filipinos.
But Garin said it was Ona who took her to to Aquino so they could talk about the dengue vaccine.
Garin said she had no direct access to Aquino at that time.
