Pamintuan, who is also heads Central Luzon’s Regional Development Council (RDC), also said he has met with legal consultants from legal institutions, including the Columbia and Sorbonne universities, on such course of action.
In a statement, Pamintuan expressed outrage amid 6,000 city school children who were vaccinated with Dengvaxia which its manufacturer Sanofi recently admitted as unsuitable for those without any history of dengue fever, a viral ailment transmitted by dengue mosquitoes.
At least two children who got the vaccine in Tarlac and Bataan provinces were reported to have died from severe dengue.
“They are little innocent angels who were mostly nine years old when they got the vaccines,” he said.
Pamintuan declined to reveal the results of his meeting with the foreign lawyers, except that they have formed a team to decide yet on legal action against Sanofi.
“I want to make sure the right legal measures are taken to compensate the damages done to those who received the vaccination, their parents and to my beloved city,” he said.
“I look at this incident as a reckless assault on the human rights of the innocent children and that my city is fi ring back a direct response against the pharma company that brought fear to those affected by the immunization program,” he added.
An estimated 700,000 students in Central Luzon, Calabarzon and Metro Manila were injected with the vaccine. Pamintuan said he has alerted the head of City Health Office to monitor the health of the kids who got dengue vaccines.
He was set to receive a report on the monitoring operations yesterday. In nearby Mabalacat City, nine pupils at the Lakandula Elementary School were reported to have fallen ill with fever one after another last week after they were simultaneously given Dengvaxia a few months ago.
Some of the children have already recovered but city health officials still kept watch on the health of others.
