The vaccine administered in three doses over a one-year period will help prevent the disease caused by all four dengue types in individuals from 9-45 years
Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of Sanofi, announced that vaccinations with Dengvaxia have commenced in the Philippines following official receipt of the first shipment of the vaccine earlier this month. Dengvaxia, a tetravalent dengue vaccine, was approved in the Philippines on December 22, 2015 for the prevention of disease caused by all four dengue types in individuals from 9-45 years of age living in endemic areas. The vaccine is administered in three doses given over a one-year period.
“This is truly a great moment in the history of vaccinology,” states Guillaume Leroy, Vice-President of Dengue Vaccine, Sanofi Pasteur. “Dengvaxia’s availability for administration by healthcare providers in the Philippines, to be followed closely by the initiation of a public sector immunisation programme in the country is a landmark event for global dengue prevention and a great achievement for the people of the Philippines.”
Medical Societies in the Philippines held a media event in Manila earlier this month to welcome receipt of the first shipment of Dengvaxia to the country. In attendance, Dr Rose Capeding, Chief of the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine’s department of microbiology, noted that the Philippines participated in all three phases of the clinical development of the vaccine and that healthcare providers there were delighted to be able to begin vaccinating against dengue, which continues to pose a major public health threat to the nation.