MANILA – Manufacturers of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines are pushing for an indemnity agreement due to Dengvaxia vaccine experience.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said, the manufacturers wanted to have an indemnity deal since their COVID-19 vaccines were approved for emergency use in the country.
The absence of an indemnity agreement according to Roque, has delayed the arrival of the 117,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech under COVAX facility. The vaccines are supposed to arrive in the middle of February.
“Kaya humihingi sila ng indemnity agreement dahil ang kanilang bakuna ay covered ng EUA (emergency use authorization), at hindi pa ng general use authorization,” Roque said in an interview with PTV-4 on Friday. “Gumalaw naman po ang ating pamahalaan, ang Kongreso ay bumubuo ng isang batas na nagsasabi na gobyerno na ang magbabayad ng danyos para sa lahat ng magkakaroon ng side effects.”
The Sanofi Pasteur’s Dengvaxia vaccine controversy started in November 2017, when Sanofi announced that their dengue vaccine posed a risk to those who were not infected by dengue prior to the inoculation. The announcement came after the vaccines have been injected to over 700,000 children and policemen.
At least 100 individuals have died after receiving Dengvaxia doses, which made the company return the P1.16 billion to the Department of Health for the unused doses of the controversial dengue vaccine.
According to Roque, Sanofi Pasteur’s Dengvaxia vaccine experience prompted Pfizer to seek an indemnity agreement.
“Alam nyo po puro Europeans (manufacturers) ‘yan naguusap-usap po yan. Kaya nga po parang naging mas maingat ang Pfizer bilang isang kapwa European manufacturer ng Sanofi pagdating sa pagsusuplay ng EUA,” said Roque./PN
