Philippines says deaths in vaccine row 'consistent with'

dengueManila, Jan 11 (AFP) The Philippines said today that someof the 14 children who died after receiving a controversialvaccine showed signs of ...

dengueManila, Jan 11 (AFP) The Philippines said today that someof the 14 children who died after receiving a controversialvaccine showed signs of "severe dengue", as investigatorsprobe the drug whose use was suspended due to health concerns.

More than 830,000 Filipino schoolchildren were injectedwith Sanofi's Dengvaxia vaccine last year in the world's firstpublic dengue immunisation programme.

But the country stopped the sale and distribution ofDengvaxia last month after Sanofi warned the vaccine couldworsen symptoms for people who had not previously beeninfected with the virus.

Philippine authorities are also pursuing criminal andpublic health safety investigations into any links between thedrug and the deaths of 14 schoolchildren who died months afterbeing vaccinated.

"The findings of the forensic pathologists are consistentwith severe dengue or dengue shock syndrome," Health SecretaryFrancisco Duque told ABS-CBN television, referring to theresults of autopsies on some of the deceased children.

Duque also said he had asked Sanofi to refund around 1.5billion pesos ($30 million) worth of unused vaccines.

Officials at the government's Public Attorney's Office(PAO), which has been conducting autopsies on some of the deadchildren, have been trying to build a criminal case by provingthe deaths were linked to the vaccine.

The health department has also commissioned independentexperts to pursue a separate inquiry in the interest of publichealth and safety, though the results of this study have notbeen disclosed.

"They may or may not be investigating the same cases ordeaths and would be using different methods of investigation,"Health Undersecretary Eric Tayag told AFP.

Sanofi said in a statement on Thursday that it was"saddened" to learn of the deaths of the children.

"Up to this date, there has been no death established tohave been causally linked to the dengue vaccine, not evenamong the 40,000 people involved in the clinical trialsconducted across 15 countries," the statement added.

In November last year, the French company releasedfindings of a new study that showed Dengvaxia could lead tosevere infections for vaccinated people who caught dengue forthe first time.

The disclosure triggered a public furore, with someparents blaming the vaccine for their children's deaths and anumber of legislators accusing the government of endangeringpublic health.

Dengue, a mosquito-borne illness, is a leading cause ofserious illness and death among children in some Asian andLatin American countries, according to the World HealthOrganization.(AFP)AMS.

This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.

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