Doctors hoping for justice in Dengvaxia case review

MANILA, Philippines — Doctors who were dragged into the Dengvaxia cases are hoping to get justice through the ongoing evaluation conducted by the Department of Justice (DOJ) regarding the remaining Dengvaxia cases.

Led by former health undersecretary Kenneth Hartigan-Go, the doctors expressed optimism following the DOJ’s dismissal of 98 complaints of reckless imprudence filed against former health secretary and current Iloilo 1st district Rep. Janette Garin and other medical professionals.

In a resolution dated Jan. 10, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla directed the withdrawal of the cases against the professionals, citing the absence of “direct causal relationship” between the vaccine and the children’s deaths, stating that the deaths could be attributed to other reasons.

Hartigan-Go, an internist, clinical pharmacologist and toxicologist, expressed gratitude for the “enlightenment” on the case, adding that those “fake experts” should have their licenses cancelled.

“This issue is complicated and even our fellow doctors or public health specialists suffered difficulties in explaining to the public,” Hartigan-Go said in a statement released through Garin’s office.

“Those who deceived, lied and posed as experts and spread wrong information should be stripped of licenses and reminded of their ethical obligation,” he added.

Hartigan-Go was one of the many medical professionals who had been actively involved in the Dengvaxia controversy.

He was a member of the World Health Organization Advisory Committee on the Safety of Medicinal Products for a decade and served for six years on the Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety, which is the counterpart committee to the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts.

The Dengvaxia vaccine was introduced in 2016 as the world’s first dengue vaccine. However, following reports of adverse effects and deaths among vaccinated individuals, the program was halted, leading to public outcry and legal actions against health officials involved in its administration.