MANILA, Philippines — Without making any commitment, Dengvaxia manufacturer Sanofi Pasteur said it would discuss with Health Secretary Francisco Duque III the government’s demand for reimbursement of unused vaccines.

Sanofi said in a statement yesterday that it recognized the letter Duque sent last week to get back about P1.4 billion, which comprises the unused vials of the anti-dengue Dengvaxia vaccines.

“We acknowledge the request made by the Philippines’ Secretary of the Department of Health, Francisco Duque III, for the reimbursement of unused doses of Dengvaxia. We have recently asked for a meeting with Secretary Duque to discuss this issue directly, which we hope can take place in the very near future,” the statement read.

The drug manufacturer, however, did not address Duque’s other letter, which demanded that Sanofi conduct serotesting of over 830,000 children vaccinated under the Department of Health (DOH)’s school-based immunization program since 2016.

Duque wants Sanofi to do the testing, at no cost to the government, to determine the “pre-vaccination status” of the children and determine whether or not they already had dengue before vaccination.

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