Concerned netizen debunks Pinoy Ako Blog after defending PNoy admin over dengue vaccine scandal

Billy Almarinez, Noynoy Aquino and Jover Laurio of Pinoy Ako Blog

The Dengvaxia vaccine is a hot topic now after a new analysis of clinical data showed Sanofi Pasteur's dengue vaccine poses more risks for people who have not been infected by the virus before immunization.

The purchase of some P3.5 billion worth of dengue vaccines by the DOH was done during Noynoy's administration.



Because of this scandal, many social media personalities are demanding the past admin to explain the alleged haste by which the Department of Health purchased the Dengvaxia vaccines for dengue in December last year.

Pinoy Ako Blog came into Noy's defense and said that it should be Sanofi to be blamed and not Noynoy Aquino.

Billy Almarinez from De La Salle University contradicted Pinoy Ako Blog and raised five points in response to PAB's recent article.

Read his full statement below:

And now, on behalf of THEIR ilk, Pinoy Ako Blog apparently turns apologist and defends THEIR beloved ex-P-Noy and his Daang Matuw(i)d cabal (including but not limited to ex-SOH Janette Garin) from the #DengvaxiaControversy by attempting to pass the buck to the pharmaceutical company Sanofi Pasteur and playing the #DoneInGoodFaithCard. Let me raise five points in response:

(A) The supposed "recommendation" by the World Health Organization (WHO) was a conditional one, and stated in effect that any dengue vaccination program on a national or sub-national scale should be based on an identified population with seroprevalence of greater than or equal to 70% for the recommended age group (9 to 16 years old) in a geographical location [1][2]. Did the P-Noy-era Department of Health decide to procure and publicly administer Dengvaxia based on a national or sub-national seroprevalence figure? I ask this because according to a statement by the Philippine Infectious Disease Society of the Philippines dated May 20, 2016, national dengue seroprevalence data was "unavailable, except in two areas (Guadalupe, Cebu and San Pablo, Laguna), which showed 58% of children aged 2-4 years old, 75% of children aged 5-8 years, 89% of children aged 9-12 years old and 93% of children aged 13-14 years old, to be seropositive" [3]. If a national dengue seroprevalence data was unavailable prior to procurement of Dengvaxia, then what did Garin's DOH use as basis to follow WHO's conditional recommendation? What was the basis for the pilot implementation in public schools in Central Luzon, Metro Manila, and CALABARZON? Data from only two towns in Cebu and in Laguna?



(B) The fact remains that it was P-Noy's DOH that decided and went on to procure Dengvaxia and implement a public dengue vaccination program. About PhP 3.5B worth of vaccines had already been purchased by the P-Noy government [4]. That's a fact (hindi lang "resibo"). Regardless of the fact that the Duterte administration continued it (because it was supposed to be an ongoing program that the then-new administration "inherited" and deemed necessary to continue "in good faith", probably so as not to waste PhP 3.5B of public funds), it was the P-Noy government that purchased and started implementing it apparently without yet having enough scientific evidence pointing to the vaccine's long-term safety.

(C) The argument that people in the P-Noy administration only acted in "good faith" because Dengvaxia was "recommended" by the WHO back then but apparently did not bother to consider the rest of the initial findings (such as the finding that the vaccine appeared to be more effective for seropositive, or previously dengue-infected, patients, than for those who were seronegative) [3] and to determine the identified vaccine recipients' dengue histories, just goes to show how terribly incompetent some supposedly important people in the P-Noy administration were.



(D) Pinoy Ako Blog's post claims that 11 countries have been using Dengvaxia. According to mainstream media articles way back in early 2016, Dengvaxia was "launched in Manila" [5]. Those "11 countries" probably were where clinical trials prior to commercialization of the vaccine were done. People in those "11 countries", actually 15 [5], received Dengvaxia as "guinea pigs", not as people who decided to receive the vaccine for its established efficacy and safety.

(E) "Pinagtatangol [...] ang 10K na EJK" daw? Those "EJKs" remain to be either allegations or cases under investigation. That the P-Noy administration haphazardly procured and publicly administered Dengvaxia to hundreds of thousands of innocent kids and in effect expose them to a greater risk of severe hemorrhagic fever because of the vaccine is [now] an established fact. So there. Fact, hindi "resibo".

Yes, let us hold Sanofi Pasteur accountable. But more importantly, let us hold accountable those P-Noy era government officials who because of either incompetence or some allegedly/possibly self-serving reason, approved of and initiated the exposure of hundreds of thousands of innocent kids to a higher risk of severe hemorrhagic fever.
'Nuff said.

Source: Billy Almarinez

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