A box of
Dengvaxia being shown to AFP reporters at a hotel in Mexico City.PHOTO: AFP
The Health Sciences Authority (HSA) has
approved the world's first dengue vaccine Dengvaxia for use in Singapore
following a seven-month expedited review of the potential benefits and risks.
It will be made commercially available in
several months' time. Sanofi has not yet said how much it will cost, although
its its head of Global Medical Affairs, Dr Ng Su-Peing, has said that the
company’s goal is to make the vaccine “as commercially accessible as possible”.
Studies have shown that overall, the vaccine is
effective at reducing dengue by 60 per cent, and reducing severe dengue by 84
per cent.
Against the Den-1 and Den-2 strains – which
account for three-quarters of the dengue cases in Singapore – the vaccine’s
efficacy is 50 per cent and 40 per cent respectively, compared with 75 and 77
per cent for the other two strains.
The HSA's decision to approve the vaccine was
based on 24 clinical studies carried out by Sanofi Pasteur - the company
manufacturing the vaccine - which involved 41,000 people.
The vaccine is approved for use in anyone
aged 12 to 45 years, as studies showed that the risk of hospitalisation from
dengue was reduced in those above 12 years old but also showed that the vaccine
was not very effective in those aged above 45.
The HSA said it is prepared to revise its age
guidelines when more data is available.
Importantly, the vaccine was also 81 per cent
effective in people who had already had a dengue infection previously, compared
to 38 per cent in those who had never had the virus.
Younger children who had never had dengue
also ran a higher risk of hospitalisation if they contracted the virus after
being vaccinated, although this was not seen in older children.
The HSA therefore advises those who have not
had dengue to speak with their doctors on whether or not they should get the
vaccine.
The Health Ministry does not recommend
rolling out this dengue vacine as a national programme as it "would not be
a clinically and cost-effective means to tackling dengue infection in
Singapore". This means that subsidises and Medisave cannot be used to pay
for vaccination.
Professor Ooi Eng Eong, who is deputy
director of the emerging infectious diseases programme at Duke-NUS Medical
School, said: “The impact vaccination would have on the overall incidence of
dengue in Singapore will depend tremendously on the number of people who become
vaccinated.
“The larger this number, the greater impact
vaccination would have on reducing the number of dengue cases in Singapore,”
said Prof Ooi, who is also a scientific advisory board member on dengue for
Sanofi.
The vaccine was launched late in 2015 and is
currently approved for use in nine other countries, including Indonesia and the
Philippines.
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