The chairman of the House of Representatives’ committee on appropriations on Wednesday expressed confidence that the proposed supplemental budget providing medical aid to Dengvaxia vaccines, would get enacted before President Rodrigo Duterte delivers his State of the Nation Address in July.
Davao City Rep. Karlo Nograles, the panel chairperson, made the statement after the House unanimously passed House Bill 7449 or the Supplemental Budget for 2018 on third and final reading late Tuesday night.
The bill was passed at the Lower House by a 231-0 vote after it was certified as urgent by President Duterte.
“The House of Representatives has taken a huge concrete step in making right a huge wrong of the government in the past,” Nograles said on Wednesday.
“The passage of the P1.161-billion Supplemental Budget of 2018 on second and third reading brings peace of mind closer to the parents of the thousands of schoolchildren vaccinated with Dengvaxia even as we all hope that the worst-case scenario doesn't happen to them,” he said.
Nograles said he expects the Senate to also act expeditiously on the measure for the sake of the nearly 900,000 vaccinees.
“I am optimistic that the supplemental budget will be a law by the time the President delivers his third Sona on July 23,” he said.
Nograles earlier filed HB 7449 which sought to turn French pharmaceutical firm Sanofi Pasteur's P1.161-billion partial refund to the Philippine government into standby medical funds for the vaccinees.
Sanofi manufactured Dengvaxia, which in April 2016, was used by the Aquino administration to launch a massive anti-dengue inoculation program.
The program was suspended by the current administration after Sanofi itself admitted in November 2017 that Dengvaxia could worsen symptoms for vaccinated children who contract dengue for the first time, as per the results of their follow-up study.
Nograles said the swift approval of the supplemental budget in the House would not have been possible without the intervention of President Duterte.
He added that the unanimous approval of the Dengvaxia medical assistance “shows that this House has its heart in the right place.”
“The best way to exercise the House of Representatives' power of the purse is during moments when it can literally save lives,” Nograles said.
The P1.161-billion refund was for the unused vials of Dengvaxia that was returned by the Department of Health to Sanofi.
Nograles also supported the plan of the DoH to get a full refund of the government's P3-billion purchase of the vaccine.