VNVC vaccination system plans to distribute Takeda Corporation's dengue vaccine if the vaccine is licensed for use in Vietnam.
On September 28, VNVC Vaccination System held a signing ceremony for a memorandum of understanding on strategic cooperation with Takeda Pharmaceuticals (Asia Pacific) Co., Ltd., abbreviated as Takeda, a member of Takeda Group (Japan).
At the signing ceremony, VNVC and Takeda agreed to implement many activities to promote awareness and improve professional knowledge for medical staff on dengue fever prevention measures, including dengue fever vaccine.
Specifically, the two sides will coordinate to organize scientific conferences, seminars, and training courses on dengue fever and dengue vaccine for VNVC medical staff, and coordinate communication activities to raise public awareness of vaccination and dengue fever prevention.
In addition, the cooperation also aims to develop a model to predict dengue vaccine demand to help people access the new dengue vaccine from Takeda if this vaccine is licensed for use in Vietnam.
Present at the signing ceremony, Dr. Nguyen Ngo Quang, Deputy Director of the Department of Science, Technology and Training (Ministry of Health) expected that the cooperation between Takeda and VNVC will bring benefits to the people in the near future. "We hope that the Vietnamese people will have access to dengue fever vaccine as soon as possible," said Mr. Quang.
Speaking at the ceremony, Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Dac Phu, former Director of the General Department of Preventive Medicine and Senior Advisor of the Vietnam Public Health Emergency Response Center, hoped that the signing ceremony between VNVC and Takeda would be successful and that dengue fever vaccine could soon be brought to Vietnam. "Of course, the vaccine must meet the standards and requirements for effectiveness and safety to be brought to Vietnam," Mr. Phu added.
Takeda's dengue vaccine TAK-003 (registered under the trade name QDENGA) has been licensed for use in more than 30 countries including the European Union (EU), the United Kingdom, Argentina and countries with recent dengue outbreaks such as Indonesia, Brazil and Thailand. The vaccine is not yet licensed for circulation in Vietnam.
Test results show that QDENGA can create immune responses at different levels against all four strains of dengue virus that cause dengue fever circulating in the world, helping to prevent disease and reduce the possibility of hospitalization in infected people.
According to the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the agency that licensed the use of the QDENGA vaccine in the EU, this vaccine has been approved for use in people aged 4 years and older, regardless of whether they have been infected or not.
Representatives of Takeda Vietnam and representatives of the VNVC vaccination system signed a memorandum of understanding on strategic cooperation on September 28 in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Thanh Tung
At the signing ceremony, Mr. Ngo Chi Dung, Chairman of the Board of Directors - General Director of VNVC Vaccination Center System shared that with comprehensive capacity and experience in preservation and being a strategic partner of many major vaccine companies in the world, VNVC is always looking for and ready to cooperate with manufacturers to promptly bring new generation vaccines to prevent diseases such as dengue fever, herpes zoster, hand, foot and mouth disease, hepatitis B... to serve the Vietnamese people.
"One of VNVC's determinations is to bring back the most complete and high-quality vaccines equivalent to those of developed countries in the world for the Vietnamese people. The cooperation event opens up the prospect of applying advanced measures to prevent dengue fever, especially with dengue fever vaccines in the future in Vietnam," Mr. Dung expected.
Ms. Katharina Geppert - Chief Representative of Takeda Vietnam shared that the cooperation between the two sides will help bring Takeda's high-quality health care and prevention solutions closer to the Vietnamese people. "We appreciate the strength of cooperation between medical partners in each country to jointly address public health challenges, including solutions in preventing dengue fever," said Ms. Katharina Geppert.
On the same day, Takeda also continued to coordinate with the Pasteur Institute of Ho Chi Minh City to organize a scientific conference on dengue fever prevention and control. This is an important event within the framework of activities to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Japan.
VNVC is a vaccination unit capable of storing more than 300 million doses of internationally-standardized vaccines at the same time. Photo: Tuyet Huynh
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), dengue fever is ranked among the top 10 global health challenges, with up to 40% of the world's population living in areas at risk of dengue fever. Vietnam is one of the countries leading in the number of cases with an estimated 200,000 cases per year.
Dengue fever is an unpredictable and complex disease, commonly found in both children and adults. It is estimated that about 10%-30% of people with severe dengue fever require hospitalization each year.
According to the Ministry of Health, from the beginning of the year to August 25, the country recorded 66,386 cases of dengue fever, including 14 deaths. Many localities recorded an increase in the number of cases. Typically, Hanoi recorded 10,372 cases of dengue fever, including 3 deaths. Compared to the same period in 2022, the number of cases increased nearly 4 times, the number of deaths was equivalent.
The Department of Preventive Medicine, Ministry of Health, forecasts that climate change with the El Nino phenomenon lasting in 2023-2024 will create favorable conditions for mosquito breeding. This is an opportunity for mosquito-borne infectious diseases, especially dengue fever, to spread.
Yen Chi
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