MARIVELES, Bataan – The parents of a 10-year-old girl here who allegedly died of dengue six months after receiving vaccination cried for justice for what happened to their daughter in the midst of the Dengvaxia controversy.
“Sana magkaroon ng hustisya pagkamatay ng anak ko. Siguro hindi mamamatay anak ko kung hindi nabakunahan kasi hindi sakitin anak ko. First time niya magkasakit ng grabe at namatay (I hope that the death of our daughter will be given justice. Our daughter might have not died if not given vaccination because she was not sickly. That was the first time that she got severely ill and then died),” Marivic de Guzman, 34, said.
Her husband, tricycle driver Nelson de Guzman, 34, said, “Gusto namin magkaroon ng hustisya nangyari sa anak namin, managot ang may kinalaman sa vaccine. Kung hindi nasaksakan ang bata, baka buhay pa siya (We want justice for what had happened to our daughter, those responsible for the vaccine be held accountable. If she was not vaccinated, she might still be alive).”
The couple’s daughter Christine Mae, 10, died on October 15, 2016 at the Bataan General Hospital (BGH) in Balanga City.
Christine was the eldest of three children. She was in Grade 5 at the Sisiman Elementary School in Mariveles. The family resides at a modest house in Sitio Breakwater in Barangay Sisiman.
The death certificate showed that disseminated intravascular coagulopathy was the immediate cause of the child’s death while severe dengue was the antecedent cause.
The father said her daughter was vaccinated on April 6, 2016. This was confirmed by the child’s dengue school-based immunization record.
“Hindi pa nagkaka-dengue anak ko bago mabakunahan (My daughter has not yet been infected by dengue prior to vaccination), Nelson said.
He said that on October 11, 2016 or six months after receiving the Dengvaxia vaccine, her daughter went to school but came back home before lunch.
“Her head was aching. The following day, she got a fever. After two days, we brought her at Maheseco Hospital in Mariveles and was checked for dengue. After 24 hours, we transferred her at BGH. The next day, (October 15, 2016), she died,” the father said.
Nelson said their daughter’s diagnosis at the BGH was dengue. (PNA)
