World's first public dengue vaccination programme launched in Philippines

April 5, 2016

The world’s first public dengue vaccination programme was launched in the Philippines with a French drug Dengvaxia (world’s 1st dengue fever vaccine) to combat mosquito-borne disease.
Several hundred children aged between 9 and 10 were vaccinated with the injections in front of government health workers at a public school in eastern Manila.
Mexico was first country in the world to approve first-ever Dengvaxia Dengue fever vaccine for the public use and Philippines was the first county in Asia to allow it.
However with the launch of first public dengue vaccination programme, Philippines became first country to introduce, adopt and implement the first-ever dengue vaccine through the public health system and under public school settings.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Dengue or haemorrhagic fever is the world’s most common mosquito-borne virus. It infects an estimated 390 million people in more than 120 countries each year, killing more than 25,000.
Asia is home to some 70% of cases worldwide and in the Philippines 200,000 cases were reported in 2013.