By PNA
The Department of Health (DOH) will not be sharing the Dengvaxia masterlist containing the names of children who have been vaccinated with the dengue vaccine, with the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) any time soon.
This after DOH Secretary Francisco Duque III opted to follow the opinion of the National Privacy Commission (NPC) to keep to themselves the list of children given Dengvaxia shots.
Duque, who sought opinion on the matter, said NPC has cited a provision of the Data Privacy Act of 2012, which states that a public office should not disclose any information to another government agency or a private entity without the consent of the subject of the information.
However, the DOH chief said they will comply in case they will be directed through a writ by a government agency, or a court, to provide or share the information.
“If they give us a subpoena, we will share them because that is our only protection against lawsuits,”said Duque.
The PAO has been pressing the DOH for a copy of the Dengvaxia masterlist.
NPC earlier advised the DOH to be circumspect in sharing sensitive personal information of individuals, saying it should only do so if it deems that such sharing or disclosure is authorized under the law, or adheres to data privacy principles, and there are reasonable and appropriate security measures in place to protect the data.
Yesterday, Senator Richard Gordon, chair of the Senate blue ribbon committee tasked to investigate the Dengvaxia controversy, wrapped up the Senate inquiry on the vaccine. He said his panel will soon submit its recommendation on the issue.
“Definitely criminal proceedings should follow against all these people involved,” Gordon said citing former President Benigno Aquino III, former health secretary Janette Garin and former budget chief Florencio “Butch” Abad’s liability in the case.
