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Vietnam will be one of the candidates participating in a trial involving testing the vaccine against all four types of the dengue virus conducted by Japan. |
The statement was made by Prof. Dr Nguyen Van Kinh, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Medical Association at the “Research and Application in Medical Sector” conference jointly held in Hanoi on October 12 by the Vietnam Medical Association and the Ministry of Health.
A number of countries previously developed, tested, and approved dengue vaccines for use, However, the vaccines did not provide full protection when people get the virus, especially dengue virus type 2 causing outbreaks with an increase in the number of cases in recent years.
Recently, a dengue vaccine was developed by a Japanese drug maker to prevent any of the four so-called serotypes of dengue effectively. Vietnam will be one of the countries participating in testing this dengue vaccine.
There are four serotypes of dengue viruses, designated as DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3, and DENV-4. One person is capable of contracting all four strains of the virus throughout their life. Once a person has been infected with one strain, their body will build up an immunity to only that strain of the virus.
This year, most dengue cases in the country are mainly caused by dengue viruses DENV-1, and DENV-2.
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Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan speaks at the event. (Photo: SGGP) |
Speaking at the conference, Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan said that the application of scientific research helps improve medical examination and treatment, prevention and control of epidemics. It is one of the priorities of the health sector.
The country has so far produced 11 out of 12 types of vaccine in the national expanded program on immunization. Especially, vaccine research and development have made Vietnam to become a strong country in vaccine production in the world with a clinical trial management system (CTMS) recognized by WHO.
The Ministry of Health hopes that the cooperation and efforts of scientists along with the driving forces to promote scientific research in the health sector, research and application in the medical area will create a great surge of strong development, she emphasized.
As of October, the country has recorded more than 93,800 cases of dengue fever and 26 deaths, the Ministry of Health reported.
From the beginning of the year until now, Hanoi has had around 18,000 people infected with dengue fever, more than three times higher than the same period last year, resulting in three deaths.
