Dengvaxia controversy

The Dengvaxia controversy (locally [dɛŋˈvakʃa]) occurred in the Philippines when the dengue vaccine Dengvaxia was found to increase the risk of disease severity for some people who had received it.

A vaccination program run by the Philippine Department of Health (DOH) administered Sanofi Pasteur's Dengvaxia to schoolchildren. The program was stopped when Sanofi Pasteur advised the government that the vaccine could put previously uninfected people at a somewhat higher risk of a severe case of dengue fever through antibody-dependent enhancement. A political controversy erupted over whether the program was run with sufficient care and who should be held responsible for the alleged harm to the vaccinated children.

In late November 2017, the DOH suspended the school-based vaccination program. The DOH subsequently banned the vaccine's use and sale in the Philippines. The scare caused by the controversy has been suggested as a factor in the country's loss of confidence in vaccines and low immunization rates, resulting in an infectious disease crisis in the country in 2019, including a measles outbreak.