A research group from the Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) has completed their evaluation on a vaccine named Dengvaxia against dengue fever, which is awaiting approval from an ethics council under the Ministry of Health before being put into use, local media reported.Dr. Tran Ngoc Huu, former director of the HCMC Pasteur Institute and head of the research group said that the research was sponsored by Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of Sanofi, a French multinational pharmaceutical company.
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Especially, from 2011 to 2017, two major studies on the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness were completed in 10 countries, including five in Southeast Asia, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. The study was conducted on 10,275 children aged 2 to 14.
In Vietnam, since 2011, the vaccine was tested on 2,336 children, aged 2-14, in the two Mekong Delta provinces of An Giang and Tien Giang.
The results from the two studies in Southeast Asia and the Americas show that Dengvaxia is highly effective in preventing dengue fever in children aged 9-16, who have been previously infected.
Dr. Huu confirmed that all children in Vietnam who participated in the test are safe without any complications.
Based on the research results, Sanofi Pasteur has registered to circulate Dengvaxia vaccine in many countries around the world. This vaccine is indicated for the prevention of dengue fever caused by four serotypes of dengue virus.
By November 2018, Dengvaxia vaccine was licensed in 22 countries and territories around the world such as Mexico, Philippines, Brazil, Peru, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Indonesia, Bolivia, Cambodia, Thailand, Guatemala, Paraguay, Malaysia, Singapore, among others.
As of May 2019, 54 countries around the world have approved the use of the Dengvaxia vaccine.
