MANILA, Philippines — Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) Chief Persida Acosta’s claims against the Department of Health (DOH) are “baseless, malicious and a complete lie,” Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said on Thursday. Duque said Acosta has claimed that the DOH paid a certain amount to families of victims of the controversial Dengvaxia vaccine to drop the charges. Persida Acosta falsely claimed that the DOH paid at least four families with P50,000 each in exchange of dropping off charges,” Duque said in a statement. Duque also lamented that the DOH staff facilitating support groups have been “bullied and harassed” due to the allegations, though they continued extending help to Filipinos. READ: FDA stops sale, distribution, marketing DengvaxiaDOH said more than 830,000 individuals, mostly children, received Dengvaxia immunization through the government’s P3-billion anti-dengue program.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer January 31, 2019 11:03 UTC