The State of Dengue Vaccines in Peru: An Update from a Medical Expert

In Peru More than 76,000 cases of dengue are registered, according to the most recent report from the National Center for Epidemiology, Prevention, and Disease Control.

Dr. Rafael Barrera, Research Manager of the Medical Department of Pacífico Salud, commented to RPP Noticias that two worldwide have been developed and initially approved dengue vaccines (Denvaxia from Laboratorio Sanofi Pasteur and Qdenga from Laboratorio Takeda), which have licenses in the United States and Indonesia, respectively.

“Case follow-up studies have found that the protection they confer is suboptimal, that it is more effective in people who had a dengue infection prior to the vaccineand that in people who have not previously suffered from dengue, the risk of severe forms of this disease increases, for which reason international health regulatory bodies (WHO, PAHO) do not include these people in dengue management and prevention recommendations. vaccines due to lack of evidence on safety and efficacy. In that line, this vaccine it is not included in national immunization programs at the country level,” he commented.

Vaccine accreditation

Dr. Barrera mentions that out of the vaccines mentioned above, “there are at least seven other vaccines in the investigational phase; the vaccine Ideally, it should confer protection against the four serotypes (DENV-1 to DENV-4), something that has not yet been achieved to date.

“The accreditation or authorization of the regulatory bodies for its massive use will occur only when the vaccines prove to be safe and effective at the same time, and for this there is no projected date yet; It will depend on the results that are being achieved in the ongoing research work ”, he added.