Health authorities in the Philippines have said that the dengue vaccine Dengvaxia, marketed by Sanofi, could be linked to three deaths in the country, according to an investigation ordered by the government.
Almost 800,000 school-aged children participated in a vast vaccination campaign in 2016 and 2017. The rate of dengue mortality in the Philippines is in fact 60 times higher than the world rate.
But following the deaths of 14 children, the Philippine Ministry of Health decided to stop vaccination last November. He then formed an expert panel of 10 members to determine whether the vaccine was directly linked to these 14 deaths. The report of these experts shows a direct causal link with the death of 3 children.
5 more years to monitor side effects
“These results reinforce the decision of the Ministry of Health to stop the vaccine. It has failed in some children. The Dengvaxia is not ready for mass vaccination and we would need another 3 to 5 years to watch for possible other side effects “ said Dr Rolando Enrique Domingo, Deputy Secretary of the Department of Health of the Philippines.
“We sympathize with all families who have lost a child. Sanofi Pasteur’s mission is to reduce or eliminate the suffering of millions of people around the world through vaccination, including in the Philippines.”Sanofi said in a statement. “In clinical trials of Dengvaxia conducted for over a decade and over a million doses of the vaccine have been administered, no vaccine-related deaths have been reported to us.”, added the lab.
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