The dengue vaccine Dengvaxia does not cause “severe dengue,” but may increase the risk of hospitalization if infected.
This was disclosed by vaccine manufacturer Sanofi Pasteur in a press briefing on Monday.
“You do not get severe dengue from the vaccine. Just because you were administered with the vaccine means you’ll get infected. That’s s a little misinformation,” said Dr. Ruby Dizon, Sanofi Pasteur medical director.
“You get it because you had subsequent exposure to the virus, not because you were given the vaccine,” she added.
But still, Sanofi would not recommend vaccination for those who have not experienced dengue, according to Dr. Ng Su Peing, global medical head of the firm.
In a statement, Sanofi said that following their “supplementary exploratory analysis” of the long-term follow-up on the dengue vaccine, they found a clear and sustained benefit of being vaccinated with the dengue vaccine up to six years following the first injection for those individuals who were previously infected by dengue virus.
“In individuals who have not been previously infected by dengue virus, there is an increased risk of hospitalization for dengue and severe dengue, predominantly Grade I or II Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF),” Sanofi said in a statement.
Citing data from the World Health Organization, Sanofi said that “severe dengue” can be categorized from “milder to more severe forms as DHF I, II, III, and IV.”
It said that the DHF IV was not seen in individuals who were vaccinated.
“We have shared this new data in full transparency with the Philippine Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the DOH.
“Furthermore, the severe dengue observed in vaccinated individuals was not clinically different from that reported in unvaccinated people in the studies. All study participants who got severe dengue, whether vaccinated or no, have fully recovered,” Sanofi said. /cbb