Former President Benigno Aquino III said that he’s not aware with the controversies surrounded Sanofi Pasteur, the company which made the Dengvaxia vaccine that bought by the former administration for P3.5.
Sanofi Pasteur was accused of allegedly paying doctors in different countries in order to promote their medicine.
Gordon cited the controversies faced by Sanofi during the investigation senate investigation including the reports that million of dollars of fine were needed to be paid by the Dengvaxia maker to the American government, while two of their employees were also arrested for bribery in Germany.
When Gordon asked Noynoy if the former President was aware with these controversies about Sanofi, he answered ‘no’
Gordon cites alleged transgressions of Sanofi in other countries https://t.co/sDo55hwVGt pic.twitter.com/q0u2FCgWY6
— CNN Philippines (@cnnphilippines) December 14, 2017
Gordon also asked Aquino about the meeting between him and Sanofi officials in China in 2015.
According to the former President, the Sanofi requested the courtesy call when he was in China.
Aquino also mentioned the people he met including Sanofi Asia Senior Vice President John Luinsky, he was accompanied by former Secretaries Enrique Ona, Edwin Lacierda and Gregory Domingo.
Aquino explained that he was not told by Sanofi about the controversies that they had during their meeting in Beijing and Paris.
The senate blue ribbon committee chairman said that former President Aquino and former Health Secretary Garin could have been more careful with Sanofi especially because the company faced several controversies in the past.
“I’m just saying that with all these signs, I would imagine that the government and Secretary Garin often been more careful and circumspect in dealing with Sanofi,”
Aquino said that their only choice was simply implement the vaccine program or wait and allow people to be exposed to risk.
During the senate investigation on Dengvaxia controversy, Former President Aquino defended the decision of his administration to distribute the vaccine to the public.
He said that he was not advised against the Dengvaxia from the time of its procurement until his administration implemented its nationwide anti-dengue vaccine program.
“Bago nagdesisyon ang gobyerno sa Dengvaxia, habang nagdedesisyon, pagkatapos magdesisyon, at hanggang ngayon, walang nagparating sa akin ng pagtutol sa bakuna,” he said.
He was also told by the experts that that the vaccine passed through safety and efficacy tests.
“Sa aking pagkaunawa, sa lahat ng ibinalita ng eksperto, dumaan na po ito sa lahat ng proseso para malaman ang kaniyang efficacy at mas importante, ang kanyang safety,” he said.
Meanwhile, Dr. Anthony Leachon said Aquino cannot be blamed for the controversy if he was given a misleading information on the vaccine.
“How can you blame the president if the president was fed with wrong information by WHO or Secretary Garin?” he said
Netizens reacted on the statement of Noynoy and questioned him how his administration didn’t researched about Sanofi despite that their deal worth billions of pesos.
Ninoy Aquino is being questioned if he is aware about Sanofi's bribery cases in different countries to close a deal even if the medicines are not being tested properly!
He's answer is I'm not aware! How the hell you closed a 3.5B dengvaxia deal when you're not aware! Duh!😬😡😠 pic.twitter.com/NWJBPNKCjb— Caridad Caridad (@CaridadCordova) December 14, 2017
“How the hell you closed a 3.5B dengvaxia deal when you’re not aware!” @CaridadCordova said.
