Philippines to start dengue vaccine campaign Monday

After reporting in excess of 200,000 dengue fever cases and nearly 600 deaths in 2015 and seeing nearly 20,000 cases through Feb. 20 of this year, Philippine health officials are ready to kick off the dengue fever vaccine campaign on Monday, Apr. 4.

In Dec. 2015, the Philippines Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Sanofi Pasteur’s Dengvaxia®, tetravalent dengue vaccine, for the prevention of disease caused by all four dengue types in individuals from 9-45 years of age living in endemic areas.

The Philippines Department of Health (DOH) will provide the vaccine for 730,000 nine-year-old and older Grade 4 students in all public schools in Central Luzon-Region III, Calabarzon- Region IVA and the Metro Manila National Capital Region (NCR) for the school-based immunizations.

The Manila Bulletin reports the World Health Organization (WHO) has expressed support the DOH’s vaccination campaign and will provide technical assistance.

Related: Ayoko sa Lamok: Filipino youth’s battle against dengue fever

Sanofi Pasteur’s vaccine is the culmination of over two decades of scientific innovation and collaboration, as well as 25 clinical studies in 15 countries around the world. Over 40,000 volunteers participated in the Sanofi Pasteur dengue vaccine clinical study program (phase I, II and III), of whom, 29,000 volunteers received the vaccine. Dengvaxia® successfully completed phase III clinical studies in 2014 to evaluate the primary objective of vaccine efficacy. The Philippines participated in all three phases of the clinical development of Dengvaxia®.

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