WHO prequalifies new dengue vaccine, but Africa still not in the pictureThe World Health Organisation (WHO) this week pre-qualified a new vaccine for a mosquito-borne disease called –Dengue, which is mostly reported in the coastal part of Kenya. This is the first ever dengue vaccine that can be administered to people who have never been infected by the dengue virus. The vaccine, Qdenga (TAK-003), will be the second prequalified Dengue vaccine available in the market following the prequalification of Dengvaxia that is mainly inoculated to people who have had the virus before. Kenya, just like most African countries, is yet to roll out the Dengue vaccine to its at-risk population despite dengue cases detection in the continent since the 1960s. Even so, between 2014 and 2017, Kenya was one of the countries that the Dengue Vaccine Initiative initiated research studies to get data of the disease burden.
