The Philippines on Friday put on hold its dengue immunization program, the world's first, after new findings by the vaccine manufacturer that severe cases of dengue can occur in the longer term among those vaccinated without prior infection. More than 730,000 public school children aged nine and above in three highly endemic Philippine regions have received at least the first dose of Dengvaxia, the first licensed dengue vaccine manufactured by France-based Sanofi Pasteur. The Department of Health launched last year its 3.5 billion peso ($88 million Cdn) public dengue immunization drive — the world's first such program. Sanofi said Wednesday that an analysis based on up to six years of clinical data showed that in the longer term, more cases of severe dengue can occur following vaccination among people who have not had previous dengue infection. (Aaron Favila/Associated Press)Duque said there are currently no reports of severe dengue infection among those vaccinated.

Source: CBC News December 01, 2017 15:22 UTC