A new mass vaccination against dengue fever is scheduled to begin in the Philippines this year, Philippine Health Secretary Ted Herbosa said during a conversation with reporters.
As Herbosa said, “It is important for people to know that dengue cases are increasing”At the same time, the main means of combating it remains the control of disease vectors.
However, the department expects Japanese pharmaceutical company Takeda Pharmaceuticals to apply for a license for its new dengue vaccine from the Philippine Food and Drug Administration within a year. “If you already applied last year, you can be approved at any time this year.”he said.
He assured citizens that “a new vaccine will appear” and explained that “We are just waiting for the Food and Drug Administration. They are still studying the requirements submitted by Takeda and as soon as they are approved, the vaccines will arrive to us.”.
It should be noted that the peculiarity of the dengue virus is that it constantly mutates and therefore developing a vaccine against it is an extremely difficult task. This characteristic creates the risk of an antibody-dependent increase in infection, when the virus integrates into human antibodies and reproduces the disease in a more severe form.
Mass vaccination of children against dengue in the Philippines in 2016 with the infamous Dengvaxia vaccine affected tens of thousands of children. Many of them were left disabled. Vaccination was suspended in 2017, immediately after the consequences of vaccination became known, according to which younger children were the most affected.
It is worth noting that the pharmaceutical company never paid damages for causing health damage, and offered to do so to the Philippines itself.
Source: Rossa Primavera
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