Philippines could get new dengue vaccine within the year

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health is expecting a new dengue vaccine to be approved for license by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) within the year, Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa said on Wednesday.

This comes as the DOH is doubling down on preventing more Dengue outbreaks after the first half of the year tallied a 15% increase in cases compared to the same period last year. 

Herbosa said in an interview with state-run PTV that the QDENGA vaccine of the Japan-based Takeda Pharmaceuticals has already applied for a certificate of product registration from the FDA last year.

The DOH secretary said that the FDA will study the requirements submitted by QDENGA before its approval and delivery to the Philippines.

“The usual process takes about a year. So kung last year nag-apply na sila, anytime this year lalabas na ‘yan (if they applied last year, this could be approved any time this year),” the DOH chief said. 

Rep. Janette Garin (Iloilo, 1st District), former DOH secretary, said at a press conference on Thursday that when Dengvaxia was first introduced, the Philippines had already asked the World Health Organization (WHO) about the progress of Takeda’s QDENGA vaccine. WHO responded that Takeda was five years behind where Dengvaxia was at that time, she added.

The surge in Dengue cases earlier this year, which began even before the start of the rainy season, has prompted the DOH to urge the public to implement a "search and destroy" strategy to eradicate mosquito breeding grounds. 

For years, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, the DOH has had to ramp up its information drives to raise the country's low vaccination coverage, which is partly attributed to the spread of false claims about Dengvaxia in 2017.

Dengvaxia controversy

The Philippines was the first country in Asia in 2015 to approve the sale of Dengvaxia — the world's first licensed anti-dengue vaccine.

In 2017, Sanofi, the pharmaceutical firm behind Dengvaxia, announced that the jab could cause "severe" dengue if given to those without prior history of being inoculated with it. The news led the DOH under then-Secretary Francisco Duque III to suspend its use and then the FDA to ban its sale. 

Later, an expert panel from the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital in 2018 found that the deaths of 14 children inoculated with Dengvaxia were “totally not related to the vaccine” except for two cases, which may have been because of vaccine failure.

But online misinformation and government officials' finger-pointing had already caused a public health scare. After a sharp decline of public trust in vaccines, in 2019, the Philippines was hit by a measles outbreak and the resurgence of polio.

The Philippines ranks fifth in the world in terms of the number of children who have not received a single dose of common childhood vaccines, according to a UNICEF study in 2022.