After 1 million vaccinations, Philippines withdraws anti-Dengue vaccine, saying it isn't ready

for mass immunization.

http://www.newsweek.com/1-million-have-been-injected-vaccine-doctors-are-now-linking-spate-childrens-798901

ALMOST 1 MILLION DENGUE VACCINATIONS AND THREE CHILDREN'S DEATHS LATER, DOCTORS ADMIT THEY MAY HAVE GOT IT WRONG

BY REUTERS ON 2/3/18 AT 10:10 AM

Sanofi revealed in November that Dengvaxia - the world’s first dengue vaccine - might increase the risk of severe disease in people who had never been exposed to the virus. The news prompted an uproar in the Philippines, where more than 800,000 school-age children had been vaccinated in 2016.

SNIP

The Philippine Health Ministry halted Dengvaxia immunizations in November. It formed a 10-member panel of experts to determine if the drug was directly connected to the deaths of 14 children after they were given the vaccine.

It found it may have been connected to the deaths of three.

“Three cases were found to have causal association. They died of dengue even (though) they were given Dengvaxia. Two of them may have died because of vaccine failure,” Health Undersecretary Enrique Domingo told a news conference.

“These findings strengthen the decision of the Department of Health to stop the vaccine. It has failed in some children. Dengvaxia is not ready for mass vaccinations and we would need three to five more years to watch and monitor if there would be other adverse reactions from the vaccine.”