18 February 2018

Refer to: Maria Fatima “Girlie” Garcia-Lorenzo 
President, PAPO
E-mail: 1voicepapo@gmail.com
Mobile: (0920) 969-8756

PATIENTS’ ORGS: STOP ‘POLITICS’

IN DENGVAXIA PROBE

A huge organization of patients has called for a ‘rational’ investigation on Dengvaxia by not allowing people with ‘political agenda’ to get into the picture.

The Philippine Alliance of Patient Organizations (PAPO) lamented that the probe on the controversial vaccine has become highly politicized to the point of affecting the government’s vaccination program.

PAPO is a “coalition of patient organizations advocating for universal access to health care and allied services for Filipino patients, including persons with disabilities”. 

 It is composed of the Association of Positive Women Advocates Inc. (APWAI), Dialysis PH Support Group Inc., Hemophilia Association of the Philippines for Love and Service (HAPLOS) Foundation Inc., I Can Serve Foundation Inc., New Vois Association of the Philippines Inc., Project Red Ribbon Care Management Foundation Inc., Philippines for Livestrong Foundation, Philippine Society for Orphan Disorders, PGH Cancer Warriors, Rainbow Camp Foundation Philippines, Scleroderma Society of the Philippines Inc., Scoliosis Philippines Inc., SLMC- Arthritis Club and Touched by Max Inc.

“Instead of a rational and careful fact-finding process, the investigation has become highly politicized.  These actions have seriously affected the Department of Health´s vaccination program,” the group said in a statement.

“Remove the investigation from the hands of people with a political agenda and let people with unbiased and technical knowledge take the lead,” the group added.

PAPO’s statement came amid reports that the chief of the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO), Atty. Persida Acosta, is gunning for a senatorial slot in next year’s elections.

Although Acosta has not confirmed the report, observers said the PAO chief’s grandstanding in the Dengvaxia issue appears to be colored with politics.

PAO is currently taking the lead in the investigation over the deaths of children who were vaccinated with dengvaxia. PAO’s forensic consultant, Dr. Erwin Erfe, however, unduly and hastily linked the deaths to the vaccine, causing a scare not only on dengvaxia, but on the entire immunization program of the government.

Following Erfe’s unfounded conclusions, medical experts from all over the country, specifically the Philippine Society of Pathologists (PSP), questioned his findings given that there is no medical evidence linking dengvaxia to the deaths of the children who were given the vaccine.

The PSP recently made a call to fight the scare and hysteria brought on by the unfounded claims and disinformation against Dengvaxia.    This group of pathologists believes that the Dengvaxia scare has so jeopardized the national immunization program and has threatened to trigger epidemics in the country.

 

Likewise, the expert panel from the University of the Philippines - Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH) declared that none of the 14 children whose deaths they examined could be directly attributable to Dengvaxia.

PAPO meanwhile urged the public to pause and think of the consequences of their actions on the Public Health system. 

“We urge everyone to remember that at the center of this crisis are the families and most specially the children,” the group said.

“It has taken about 10 years for the barangay health workers, municipal, city and provincial health officers to convince parents to TRUST vaccines. What is now our recourse to prevent infectious diseases from spreading and affecting the lives of MILLIONS of children?” the group added.

PAPO also said it supports the manifesto of the doctors who seek the ‘truth’.

“We will do our part to support the Department of Health, in their hard work to rebuild the trust of families in the vaccination program,” it said.