MANILA — The Gabriela partylist on Friday filed a petition before the Supreme Court seeking to compel the officials of the Department of Health (DOH), Department of Education (DepEd) and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) to provide free medical services and treatment to children injected with the controversial anti-dengue Dengvaxia vaccine.
In a 42-page petition for mandamus, Gabriela Rep. Emmi De Jesus and the Association for the Rights of Children in Southeast Asia (ARCSEA) asked the Supreme Court to order the respondents to publicly disseminate on a regular basis the report of the task force created and designated to monitor and review the school-based immunization program involving Dengvaxia and submit the same to the House of Representatives and Senate committees on health for monitoring.
The petitioners said the government agencies should monitor children in all villages and regions who were injected with the vaccine.
The agencies should also provide free services including, but not limited to, medical check-ups, consultations, medical treatment, and blood tests, the petitioners said.
The petitioners also asked that these free medical services be continued until it would have been determined and declared by competent medical and/or scientific experts that the threats brought by the Dengvaxia vaccine have been minimized or eliminated.
“These free medical services shall continue until it would have been determined and declared by competent medical and/or scientific experts that the threat/s brought about by the Dengvaxia vaccine have been minimized or eliminated,” the petitioners said.
The petitioners also asked the SC to direct the DOH, DepEd, and DILG to create a registry of children who were administered with the vaccine to facilitate the delivery of free healthcare services.
The petitioners said that the Dengvaxia issue is “of transcendental importance” and that the SC must compel key government agencies to provide free medical services and treatment for those who might suffer from severe dengue or any of the determined side effects of the anti-dengue vaccine.
“The horrors and risks being posed right now by the vaccine, which has been haphazardly administered to around 800,000 children, should be enough for the justices to act with urgency on our petition,” De Jesus said.
De Jesus said that while the current number of petitioners is only 70, there is a possibility that they would have additional petitioners since there are more families seeking Gabriela’s help.
Named as respondents on the petition are the current DOH Secretary Francisco Duque, DILG Acting Secretary Catalino Cuy, and DepEd Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones. Also included in the list are DOH-National Center for Disease Prevention and Control program director Dr. Lyndon Lee Suy, and Food and Drug Administrative director general Nela Charade Puno. (Christopher Lloyd Caliwan/PNA)
