Vietnam has dengue fever vaccine

On September 20, the VNVC Vaccination System officially launched the dengue fever vaccine (produced by Takeda, Japan) and will be deployed for mass vaccination at nearly 200 modern VNVC vaccination centers nationwide. This is a dengue fever vaccine for children from 4 years old and adults. The vaccine's protective effectiveness against all 4 strains of dengue fever is up to 80% and prevents the risk of hospitalization by up to 90%.

Dr. Bach Thi Chinh, Medical Director of VNVC Vaccination System, informed that the dengue fever vaccine of Takeda Japan was first used in the world in 2018, and has been used in more than 40 countries, especially in countries with frequent complicated epidemics. With modern technology, the vaccine is effective in preventing all 4 strains of dengue virus (DEN-1, DEN-2, DEN-3, DEN-4). In particular, the vaccine is effective in preventing reinfection in people who have had the disease.

More effective weapons to prevent dengue fever

The dengue fever vaccine from Takeda, Japan was approved by the Ministry of Health in May 2024. Together with the manufacturer, the VNVC Vaccination System has made efforts to bring it to Vietnam soon, quickly and promptly supporting epidemic prevention with the peak epidemic cycle usually in October every year. According to Ms. Vu Thi Thu Ha, Supply Director of VNVC, as a comprehensive strategic partner of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, VNVC has deployed orders very early and made efforts with the manufacturer to bring a large quantity of dengue fever vaccine to Vietnam, because this vaccine is quite scarce in the world, especially in countries with complex epidemics such as Africa, Southeast Asian countries, etc. If the vaccine is injected promptly, it will soon protect children and adults, contributing to reducing the large burden of disease caused by dengue fever each year. The timing of dengue fever vaccination is even more significant when many diseases, especially dengue fever, are becoming more complicated, with the number of cases increasing as storms and floods occur consecutively.

Khanh Ngan, 5 years old, living in Go Vap District, Ho Chi Minh City, received dengue fever vaccine at VNVC Vaccination System on the afternoon of September 20.

PHOTO: TAN NGOC

Many infectious disease experts have expected that the dengue vaccine introduced in Vietnam will help reduce the burden of this disease. This will reduce the number of hospitalizations, reduce hospital overload, and reduce complications and deaths. From the perspective of prevention and state management, MSc.-MD Le Hong Nga, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Center for Disease Control (HCDC), said that the implementation of dengue vaccination in Vietnam will help the preventive health sector and people have more weapons to prevent and effectively deal with dengue fever. Although the vaccine is effective and has great benefits, Dr. Nga noted that people still need to maintain other disease prevention measures such as preventing mosquitoes by cleaning the living environment, sleeping under mosquito nets, etc. to control the disease effectively and sustainably.

Burden of dengue fever

According to data from the World Health Organization (WHO), the number of dengue fever cases has increased tenfold in the past two decades, from 500,000 cases in 2000 to more than 5 million cases in 2019. In Vietnam, if previously, the period 1980 - 2018 often recorded epidemic peaks every 10 years, then in the period 2019 - 2023, Vietnam experienced two epidemic peaks in 2019 and 2022. In 2022 alone, the whole country had more than 367,000 cases, ranking second globally, after Brazil. According to Dr. Le Hong Nga, in recent years, the dengue fever epidemic has changed, no longer developing cyclically but increasing steadily every year, especially at the end of the year. The main cause is the consequences of urbanization and global warming, which have created favorable conditions for disease-causing mosquitoes to thrive. Statistics show that the country has about 200,000 cases of dengue fever and dozens of deaths every year. Countries with similar epidemiological models to Vietnam, such as Brazil, have widely vaccinated their people.

The Dengue Fever Department of Children's Hospital 1 (HCMC) is currently treating many cases.

PHOTO: DU YEN

Dr. Bach Thi Chinh added that dengue fever has unpredictable and complicated developments. The disease can occur in both children and adults, in which the subjects with a higher risk of becoming severe are children, pregnant women, people with chronic diseases, obesity... If not treated promptly, the patient may experience dangerous complications due to dengue fever such as low blood pressure, heart failure, kidney failure, hemorrhagic shock, multiple organ failure, cerebral hemorrhage, coma... "For pregnant women, dengue fever can cause fetal distress, premature birth, stillbirth. The mother may experience uncontrollable bleeding, preeclampsia, liver and kidney damage, prolonged bleeding during labor, which is life-threatening", Dr. Chinh said and added that if they survive a severe dengue infection with complications, nearly 70% of patients will have reduced ability to work , more than 50% of people will live with symptoms such as joint pain, muscle pain, weakness, weak limbs, hair loss... for up to 2 years.

Note dengue fever in children

According to Thanh Nien Newspaper reporters on the afternoon of September 20, at Children's Hospital 1 (HCMC), many children were hospitalized for dengue fever treatment. For example, TNBA (8 years old, in District 8) was hospitalized since September 14. BA's mother said that before that, her child went to get vaccinated, and when he came home, he had a fever, sometimes he was alert, sometimes he was lethargic and dizzy. The family thought that the child had symptoms after vaccination, so they took him to a private clinic for a check-up and then took medicine. After 2 days, when they saw that the child had a high fever, the family took him for a blood test and discovered that he had dengue fever, so they hospitalized him. The patient's mother also said that she and her family were subjective because in the past, no one in the area around the house and the neighbors had ever had dengue fever, so the family was quite surprised when their child got sick. Similarly, NTNN (13 years old, in Tan Phu District) also had a fever for a few days before the family discovered that he had dengue fever. According to N.'s mother, she had a fever 3 days ago but did not tell her family and still went to school as usual. Then she started having a sore throat, her family still thought it was because of the rain and sleeping in an air-conditioned room, so they took her to a private clinic and gave her medicine. After that, she had a high fever and many symptoms of dizziness and lethargy, so her family took her for testing, discovered dengue fever and hospitalized her for treatment. Dr. Nguyen Minh Tuan, Head of the Dengue Fever Department, Children's Hospital 1, said that in children, the disease has a high risk of severe progression and a high mortality rate because the initial signs are often confused with many other diseases. On the other hand, children often do not know how to describe the symptoms of the disease, so the disease is often detected late, making treatment difficult. Currently, there is no specific treatment for the disease, mainly symptomatic treatment such as blood filtration, plasma exchange, anti-shock... The cost of treating a severe case of dengue fever can be up to hundreds of millions of dong. According to him, many children with dengue fever are hospitalized when they have severe complications, falling into a state of shock, cardiovascular collapse, massive bleeding, and reduced circulatory volume, with a very high risk of death. In recent years, the number of severe dengue fever cases has shown signs of increasing, possibly related to the dominant strain of the DEN-2 virus causing the disease... According to the HCDC report, from the beginning of 2024 to now, Ho Chi Minh City has had 6,979 cases of dengue fever. Localities with a high number of cases per 100,000 people include District 1, Thu Duc City, and District 7.

Over the past 8 years, VNVC has worked with the world's leading vaccine companies to bring dozens of important vaccines to Vietnam to prevent many dangerous diseases. Since the beginning of 2024, VNVC has brought 3 new vaccines to prevent meningococcal B, pneumococcal 23 vaccine and dengue fever vaccine.

Thanhnien.vn

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/viet-nam-da-co-vac-xin-sot-xuat-huyet-18524092023171589.htm