Brazil accounts for more than 70 percent of all the dengue fever cases reported in the Western hemisphere with 1.5 million of the 2.1 million total in 2015. In addition, Brazil has reported in excess of 800 dengue related fatalities and all four dengue virus serotypes are present.

Image/CDC
Image/CDC

Following in the footsteps of other dengue-stricken countries like Mexico and the Philippines, Brazilian regulatory authorities ANVISA approved Dengvaxia® today representing the third successful licensure of the dengue vaccine in the world and the 1st in South America.

Dengvaxia®is a tetravalent dengue vaccine for the prevention of disease caused by all four dengue types in individuals from 9-45 years of age living in endemic areas.

“This new Approval of Dengvaxia® by the ANVISA, a well-recognized and World Health Organization (WHO) certified regulatory authority is an important milestone for Sanofi Pasteur,” says Guillaume Leroy, Vice President of Dengue Vaccine, Sanofi Pasteur. “Dengvaxia® has the potential to significantly reduce the dengue disease burden and to help Brazil reach the WHO’s 2020 dengue reduction objectives.”

Approval of the first dengue vaccine is an important public health breakthrough with critical importance to our country, which bears the greatest dengue burden in Latin America,” says Joao Bosco Siqueira Junior of the Department of Community Health, Institute of Tropical Pathology and Public Health, Federal University of Goias, Goiania, Brazil. “The 2015 dengue outbreak is still very present in the minds of Brazilians so Dengvaxia’s approval is a most welcome addition to our ongoing dengue prevention efforts.”

Approvals are happening fast across the globe. Who’s next? Thailand, India, Malaysia, Colombia or another hard hit dengue endemic country? We’ll be here to cover it.

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