Another recipient of the controversial Dengvaxia vaccine has died, the Public Attorney’s Office said on Wednesday.
PAO Chief Persida Acosta said a 16-year-old girl from Jala-jala, Rizal suffered the common patterns of signs and symptoms after getting three doses of the vaccine against dengue.
“After Dengvaxia vaccination, she suffered pharmocological torture through extreme pain and internal bleeding,” Acosta said in a message posted on her Facebook page.
The girl is the 165th victim of the Dengvaxia vaccine, PAO said.
“The autopsy is ongoing right now (Wednesday),” Acosta told the Manila Standard in a chat message.
Dr. Erwin Erfe, PAO forensic team chief, said another youth, Dick John dela Cruz, 14, a student of Binakayan Elementary School in Kawit, is the 164th victim of the vaccine.
“Based on the autopsy, the immediate cause of the boy’s death is the enlargement and bleeding of the brains and the lungs,” he told the media.
Dela Cruz passed away on May 24, and his remains were examined last May 29.
His parents, Jessie and Analyn dela Cruz vowed to pursue a case against those behind the P3-billion procurement and mass vaccination of the vaccine from 2015 to 2016.
The teenage boy got two doses of the vaccine, Erfe said.
“There are adverse effects that manifested and were based (exactly) on the statement of Sanofi (Pasteur Inc.) that the vaccine posed (health) risks,” Erfe said.
On Nov. 29, 2017, pharmaceutical giant Sanofi posted on its official website that “based on up to six years of clinical data, the new analysis evaluated long-term safety and efficacy of Dengvaxia in people who had been infected with dengue prior to vaccination and those who had not.
"The analysis confirmed that Dengvaxia provides a persistent protective benefit against dengue fever in those who had prior infection.”
“For those not previously infected by dengue virus, however, the analysis found that in the longer term, more cases of severe disease could occur following vaccination upon a subsequent dengue infection,” it added.