The Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) on Monday vowed to go to court and file a petition for a temporary restraining order should the government allow the use of the controversial Dengvaxia vaccine amid the rising cases of dengue.
PAO chief Persida Acosta said she would seek a legal remedy against the reintroduction of Dengvaxia, calling the vaccine as “an experiment.”
“Rest assured PAO will exhaust all means to save the people from the inoculation of the experimental Dengvaxia,” she told the media.
“We (government) should procure vaccines that have been proven safe since I was a child,” she said.
She threatened to file a restraining order to stop the return of the Dengvaxia vaccine. “I appeal to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. not to allow the use of the vaccine,” she said.
According to Dr. Erwin Erfe, PAO forensics chief, six out 10 persons who have received the vaccine could suffer from serious effects of the Dengvaxia.
“It is not true that there are no adverse effects of the vaccine to a person. If anyone would say so, that stgoes against the statement of Sanofi Pasteur Inc. and the findings of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee hearings on the ill effects of the vaccine,” Acosta said.
The PAO has filed more than 100 criminal cases before the Quezon City court and Department of Justice against ex-health chief Janette Garin and 38 others, including outgoing Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, for the death of school children due to health complication arising from the Dengvaxia vaccination.