By JEFFREY DAMICOG
Former Health Secretary Paulyn Jean Ubial is set to file her counter-affidavit this Friday in response to the complaint filed against her over her allegedl liability in the deaths of children who received shots of anti-dengue vaccine Dengvaxia.
Assistant State Prosecutor Claire Eufracia Pagayanan set the date after Ubial failed to file her counter-affidavit last Oct. 22.
Pagayanan has already begun conducting the preliminary investigation on the complaint filed by former Health Secretary Janette Garin before the Department of Justice (DoJ) last September.
In the complaint, Ubial is accused of committing reckless imprudence resulting in homicide under Article 365 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC).
“From the forgoing, it is clear that Sec. Ubial’s reckless implementation of the Community-Based Dengue Immunization Program was the only possible cause of the reported deaths,” read Garin’s complaint-affidavit.
When she was Health secretary, Garin cited that the Department of Health (DoH) implemented a school-based dengue immunization program.)
However, Garin lamented that the dengue immunization program took a drastic turn when Ubial took over.
“Instead of the limited School Based Program that I initially implemented, Sec. Ubial expanded the Dengue Immunization Program to Community-Based. Sec. Ubial likewise expanded the coverage of the immunization program to persons between nine (9) to sixty (60) years old, from the original limited scope of only ‘Grade 4 pupils (school year 2015 – 2016) aged 9 years and older enrolled in public schools in Regions III, IV-A, and NCR’,” Garin cited.