Malaysia: Dengue Vaccine - Needs more Answers

While a vaccine produced by Sanofi Pasteur has been the first in the world to be licensed for dengue prevention, Malaysia will continue to study its suitability for use in the country.

The Health Ministry is still poring over the data of the anti-dengue vaccine by the French-based company, as the dengue subtypes in its vaccine trials are different from Malaysia’s.

 

Director General of Health, Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said they needed to study the research data carefully as the Ministry had more questions to be answered by the trial experts.

 

“We are engaging closely with them. I understand that the vaccine is least effective against serotype 2, therefore the Ministry is hesitant over its efficacy."

 

“Studies on the existing data will be continued until all questions and queries are answered.” 

 

Serotype 2, one of the four virus strains of dengue, can cause hae­morrhagic fever. It belongs to the South-East Asian geno­types.

 

On Wednesday, Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of pharmaceutical giant Sanofi, announced that Mexican authorities had approved it to market the world’s first anti-dengue vaccine, Dengvaxia. 

/STAR 11-12-15

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