Hundreds of thousands of children received dangerous vaccine

Pharmaceutical company Sanofi warns against its own Dengue vaccine

Hundreds of thousands of children in the Philippines have received a dengue fever vaccine that, according to Sanofi, can be dangerous for some patients. Dead were not yet reported. The government of the island state has now stopped the vaccination program.

State vaccination campaign stopped

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), around 2.5 billion people worldwide are threatened by dengue viruses. The infectious disease is transmitted in the tropics and subtropics of the diurnal Asian tiger mosquito. Dengue fever is also widespread in the Philippines. Last year, a government vaccination campaign against the dangerous disease was launched on the island nation. This has now been stopped after it became known that the vaccine used can be dangerous for some people.

In the Philippines, hundreds of thousands of children have received a potentially dangerous dengue vaccine. The manufacturer Sanofi even warns of the drug. The Impfproramm was stopped now. (Image: arcyto / fotolia.com)

Pharmaceutical company warns of its own vaccine

According to a report by the dpa news agency, hundreds of thousands of children in the Philippines have received a potentially dangerous dengue vaccine.

The Ministry of Justice of the country therefore launched an investigation on Monday.

The nationwide vaccination program for around one million children had been suspended on Friday after the French pharmaceutical company Sanofi warned against its own vaccine Dengvaxia.

As the corporation wrote in a statement, a recent study confirmed that the vaccine "provides sustained protective benefit against dengue fever in patients with a previous infection."

But, "For those who were not previously infected with the dengue virus, however, the analysis found that more cases of serious disease could occur in the longer term after vaccination in a subsequent dengue infection."

Over 700,000 children vaccinated with dangerous drugs

According to DPA, since the beginning of the vaccination campaign, an estimated 733,000 children have been vaccinated in the Philippines.

The vaccine is approved in 15 other countries.

According to the news agency reported, according to Sanofi no deaths have been reported by the injection of the drug.

A neglected disease

Dengue fever is counted among the so-called "neglected diseases". An effective drug or a safe vaccine against the tropical disease does not yet exist.

The clinical spectrum in the case of infection ranges from mild forms that are almost symptom-free, flu-like symptoms with fever, headache, muscle and limb pain, to cases that cause internal bleeding and vascular damage.

Not all infected develop disease symptoms. Most of the complaints last about a week. In the majority of those affected the dengue disappears without further consequences.

To protect yourself from infection, avoid mosquito bites. (Ad)