Vietnam Completes Research on Dengue Fever Vaccine

A research group from the Pasteur Institute in Vietnam’s southern metropolis of Ho Chi Minh City has completed their research into a vaccine against dengue fever, which is awaiting ethical approval from the Ministry of Health (MoH) before being put into use. The France-based Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of pharmaceutical company Sanofi sponsored the research of the vaccine named Dengvaxia. After Dengvaxia is approved for use in Vietnam, Sanofi Pasteur is committed to providing the dengue vaccine at the most affordable prices for Vietnam, said Dr. Tran Ngoc Huu, former director of the HCMC Pasteur Institute and head of the research group. Dr. Huu revealed that they began to study the vaccine more than 20 years ago and had undergone many research phases on both humans and animals. From 2011 to 2017, they completed two major studies into the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness in 10 countries, including five in the Southeast Asian region, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. In Vietnam, the vaccine was tested on 2,336 children aged from two to fourteen in two Mekong Delta provinces of An Giang and Tien Giang. Dr. Huu confirmed that all children in Vietnam who participated in the research are safe without any complications. As of May 2019, 54 countries around the world have approved the use of the Dengvaxia vaccine. Vietnam has recorded over 80,000 dengue fever cases including seven deaths in the year to July 25, tripling year-on-year in the number of cases, the local VnExpress newswire reported. (SGGPNews)