Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van Kinh, vice president of the Vietnam Medical Association, told reporters on the sidelines of a conference on scientific research and application in medicine held in Hanoi on October 12 that some countries have tested and approved a vaccine to prevent dengue fever, but the efficacy has not met their expectations, especially for the most common type of virus DEN-2.

A Japanese dengue vaccine has been tested recently that has initially proved effective in preventing all four serotypes of dengue, and Vietnam will be one of the countries to join the testing campaign, said the health professional.

However, he refused to disclose the detailed plan.

Mosquito-borne dengue can cause hemorrhagic fever and infects an estimated 100 to 400 million people yearly, although over 80% of cases are mild or asymptomatic, says the World Health Organisation.

Vietnam is one of the countries recording high numbers of dengue infections, with more than 200,000 cases documented per year.

So far this year, the country has logged more than 90,000 infections, including 26 fatalities. The most common types of virus are DEN-1 and DEN-2, according to the Ministry of Health.

The General Department of Preventive Medicine under the Ministry of Health predicts that climate change coupled with the prolonged El Nino phenomenon in 2023-2024 will create favourable conditions for mosquitoes to breed, making it easier for mosquito-borne infectious diseases, especially dengue fever, to spread.