Vietnam Vaccine Joint Stock Company (VNVC) on Friday launched the mass vaccination against dengue fever using vaccine Qdenga produced by Japan’s Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (Takeda) for people aged four and above across the country.

The vaccination drive, the first of its kind in Vietnam, has been kicked off at some 200 modern inoculation centers nationwide, VNVC announced at a ceremony to debut the vaccine and launch the vaccination campaign held on the same day.   

The vaccine was researched and developed by Takeda for nearly 45 years before being put into use in 2018, said Dr. Bach Thi Chinh, medical director of VNVC.

To date, the vaccine Qdenga has been widely used in more than 40 countries around the world, especially prioritized for use in countries that often have complicated dengue fever epidemics.

In May 2024, Qdenga was approved and licensed by the Ministry of Health for circulation in Vietnam. 

The vaccine fully protects against all four dengue virus types (DEN-1, DEN-2, DEN-3, DEN-4) with an efficacy of up to 80 percent and reduces the risk of hospitalization by up to 90 percent.

In particular, this vaccine is effective in preventing reinfection in people who have once had dengue fever. This is very important for Vietnam because the number of people who have contracted the disease at least once is quite high, the doctor emphasized. 

As the next infection is often more severe than the previous one, timely vaccination will significantly help protect the patient’s health and life.

As a comprehensive strategic partner with Takeda, VNVC placed orders very early with the manufacturer to bring a large quantity of dengue fever vaccine to Vietnam, promptly protecting children and adults, contributing to reducing the burden of disease caused by dengue fever every year, said Vu Thi Thu Ha, supply chain director of VNVC.

As soon as the launch of vaccination was announced, many companies contacted VNVC to work out plans for immunization for hundreds of employees, at the price of VND1,390,000 (US$56.5) per dose, VNVC reported. 

According to doctors, as dengue fever is transmitted from person to person through mosquito bites, the most effective measure to prevent the disease is to kill mosquitoes and minimize their habitats, including places of slow-moving or stagnant water.

A five-year-old girl gets vaccination against dengue fever at an inoculation center of Vietnam Vaccine Joint Stock Company on September 20, 2024. Photo: Duyen Phan / Tuoi Tre

Typical symptoms of dengue fever are high fever for two to seven days, accompanied with signs of hemorrhage such as petechial spots, teeth or nose bleeding, bruises, and abnormal vaginal bleeding in pubertal girls.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified dengue fever as one of the top 10 global health threats, with the number of dengue cases has increased tenfold over the past two decades, from 500,000 in 2000 to more than five million in 2019.

In Vietnam, dengue peaks were recorded every 10 years during the 1980-2018 period, but in the five-year period from 2019 to 2023, the country experienced two epidemic peaks in 2019 and 2022, according to WHO data.

In 2022 alone, Vietnam had more than 367,000 dengue cases, ranking second globally after Brazil. 

It is estimated that there are about 390 million infection cases worldwide each year, of which 96 million were symptomatic, 500,000 were hospitalized, and 40,000 died, WHO said.

Anyone can contract dengue fever, a disease with complex and unpredictable developments, with high-risk subjects including children, pregnant women, and people with chronic diseases or obesity, among others, VNVC warned.

If not treated promptly, dengue patients may experience dangerous complications such as hypotension, heart failure, kidney failure, hemorrhagic shock, multiple organ failure, cerebral hemorrhage and coma. 

Currently, as no specific treatment for the disease, doctors mainly gave patients symptomatic treatments by blood filtration, plasma exchange, anti-shock, and others, with the cost of treatment of a severe dengue case can be up to hundreds of millions of Vietnam dong (VND1 million = $40.6).

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