11 More Nations OK Dengue Vaccine

Sanofi Pasteur, Sanofi’s vaccines unit, on 4 October that its dengue vaccine, Dengvaxia, had received market approval in 11 countries. To date the vaccine has been approved in Mexico, The Philippines, Brazil, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Paraguay, Guatemala, Peru, Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore. Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne disease caused by four virus serotypes (1 to 4) as categorized by the World Health Organisation. Overall, the disease is seen as a threat to about half of the world’s population. The WHO in April this year had endorsed the world’s first ever vaccine for dengue fever, which spurred several developing nations to license the vaccine. With this new tool in hand, public health communities in dengue endemic countries now have additional means to achieve the WHO objective for 50% reduction in mortality and 25% reduction in morbidity due to dengue by 2020.